Please complete the below form to indicate your interest in a volunteer research assistant (RA) position at the UC San Diego Eating Disorders Center. We appreciate your interest in working with us.
Applications to begin working with us during Summer Quarter 2026 are due by: March 27, 2026 . Applications received after this date may not be considered until our next recruitment cycle. You will hear from us by June 15, 2026 if you have received an interview. If you apply early and there are any unexpected openings, we may reach out to interview exceptional candidates before the Summer 2026 quarter. Otherwise, you should not expect to hear from us until June.
We are currently recruiting RAs for two study teams:
Outcomes Study Team (IRB Protocol #180055): Christina Wierenga, Ph.D. and associates are conducting a longitudinal research study to examine the effectiveness of skills-based intensive outpatient programs for eating disorders. Patients admitted to the partial hospitalization program at the UCSD Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research and consented to this study will complete Qualtrics surveys at multiple timepoints before, during, and after treatment assessing symptoms, thoughts, and behaviors related to their eating disorder and potential comorbid disorders. Research volunteers for this study must have consistent availability Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30 am-6:00 pm. Volunteers do not need to have availability every weekday for that entire time frame, just enough to have a consistent 12 hours/week schedule during those days/times. Volunteers are responsible for tracking online surveys completed by patients at the UCSD Eating Disorder Center via Qualtrics, Excel, Google Voice, and Microsoft applications (i.e. Teams, OneDrive, and Outlook). Volunteers will also be trained to supervise and guide patients as they complete these surveys in a clinic setting. Other responsibilities include data entry, participant recruitment assistance, and weekly research team meetings. Neuroimaging Study Team (IRB Protocols #800775, #810384): Christina Wierenga, Ph.D. and associates are conducting neuroimaging research studies to understand the neural mechanisms underlying eating disorders. Participants recruited from our partial hospitalization program as well as from the community complete three study visits: 1) a screening visit; 2) an MRI visit; and 3) a 1-year follow-up visit. At the screening visit, participants are asked to complete diagnostic interviews and a neurocognitive assessment. At the MRI visit, participants undergo an MRI scan and complete several behavioral tasks and surveys. At the follow-up visit, participants complete the diagnostic interviews and surveys again. For these studies, we are specifically looking for RAs who would be able to assist with early morning scan visits (typically ~6:45-10:30AM on weekdays, with occasional weekend/holiday visits); you do not need to have early morning availability every day to be considered, but we are most interested in applicants who have at least 2-3 days per week of early morning availability. Additional responsibilities would include data entry and helping prepare for scan visits. All RAs across both study teams are expected to attend weekly RA meetings, flyer for our studies, and volunteer for 12 hours/week. Ideal candidates are willing to commit to at least one year in the lab.
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Expected Quarter/Year of Graduation:
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Do you have a method of transportation to get to/from our primary location at 4510 Executive Drive, San Diego, CA 92121?
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Are you interested in receiving PSYC 199 credit?
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Do you live in San Diego during the school year? While you do not need to be local to the San Diego area to apply, please note that it is typically not possible for us to take on RAs who are not local to San Diego (including students who live in San Diego during the summer, but not the academic year).
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Do you live in San Diego during the summer? It is not required for RAs to be available and in San Diego during the summer quarter, but we may prioritize applicants who do have in-person summer availability.
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Tell us more about your decision to apply to this position.
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Why are you interested in volunteering in the eating disorders field and at the UCSD Eating Disorder Center specifically?
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Please describe any relevant research/clinical/work experience and/or any experience with patient or vulnerable populations.
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Please list any specific computer skills or dataset experience. (e.g., experience with Excel, Qualtrics, SPSS, REDCap).
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What experience and skills would you like to gain? What are your goals for the future and how can this experience help you reach them?
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Tell us more about your strengths and your areas for growth. What do you feel you would add to our research team?
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Which studies would you be interested in working on? If you are interested in both studies, please select both boxes. We will only consider interviewing you for the study or studies you select here. For example, if you only select Neuroimaging studies, we will not consider you for the Outcomes study even if it is determined you are not a good fit for the Neuroimaging studies. If you: a) are unsure about which study or studies you are interested in or b) are interested in both studies, but have a preference between the two, it is to your advantage to select both options.
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Outcomes
Neuroimaging
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Do you have a preference between the studies?
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Outcomes
Neuroimaging Studies
Are you able/willing to assist with early morning MRI scans (typically ~6:45AM-10:30AM, but sometimes beginning as early as 6AM or ending as late as 11AM)? We typically have an average of 1-2 scans scheduled per week, but there may be some weeks where there are more or fewer (or no) scans scheduled. We will let all team RAs know when a scan is scheduled (typically at least 2-3 weeks before the scan date) and ask who is able to attend that scan. Ideally, 1 or 2 RAs will assist with each scan. We occasionally schedule scans on weekends and holidays, but most scans are Monday though Friday. We understand your schedule may change each quarter, but we will prioritize applicants who have at least 2-3 days per week of availability during scan times and who anticipate continuing to have availability for scans in future quarters.
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Upload a screenshot or PDF of your schedule here. Please provide your current quarter/semester AND next quarter/semester availability (if known). Include school courses and any other weekly time commitments (e.g., work shifts, volunteer shifts, etc.). WebReg or Google Calendar format preferred (see example below). Please name the file LastNameSchedule.
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Upload a PDF of your resume/CV here. Please name the PDF file LastNameResume.
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Upload a PDF of your college transcript here. Feel free to use an unofficial copy of your transcript. Please name the PDF file LastNameTranscript.
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Please use this box to describe any additional context about your schedule, resume, or transcript that would be helpful for us to know.
Please provide the name, email, phone number, and relationship to you (e.g., professor, research mentor) of at least one reference we can contact about your application.
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