Family Support Educator - Northern California

Seeking talent near: San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Santa Rosa, CA; Fresno, CA; Merced, CA

Provide expert field-based patient education and support throughout the treatment journey for the Rett community.  Responsible for serving as a dedicated point of contact to Rett families for their on-label, clinical education-related questions about disease state and product education. This role will primarily engage with caregivers and families, healthcare professionals (if and when appropriate), and local communities to help patients progress in their healthcare journey.  The Family Support Educator will help patients successfully start and stay on therapy.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide disease state, product, and ongoing therapy management education upon request,  in consumer friendly language to the Rett community, which may include patients, caregivers, and/or other care team members. Caregiver engagement may take place before, during, and after therapy initiation, through various formats, including in-person, telephonic, and/or virtual interactions.


• Determine individual needs of patients and caregivers, and serve as an ongoing resource to provide appropriate education and resources accordingly, throughout the various stages of the patient journey.


• Collaborates with and provides support for the entire assigned territory, which consists of multiple internal cross-functional partners (Marketing, Sales, Patient Access Team, Medical Affairs, Advocacy, and others), and may require coverage of multiple states. Supports and communicates educational opportunities with cross functional partners, as appropriate.


• Possess expert knowledge and provide insights to internal stakeholders including, but limited to, training leads, marketing partners, advocacy, medical and leadership, in an effort to develop tools and resources to address educational gaps, enhance disease state education, and therapy management strategies to patient families/caregivers.


• Demonstrate deep knowledge of disease state, product, and Acadia Customer Support Programs, such as Hub-related and Patient Assistance Programs, and ambassador speaker programs, etc.


• May moderate, lead and present caregiver speaker programs as needed, and attend community events within assigned territory.


• Provide in-service to physician offices reactively, to educate about the Family Support Educator role, patient support resources provided to caregivers, pre and post enrollment in the program, and foster a dialogue between caregivers and healthcare providers.


• Identify and execute on opportunities to provide leadership within the Family Support Educator team and with cross functional partners.


• May provide formal mentorship and/or development opportunities with new Family Support Educator team members, and/or to cross functional colleagues interested in Patient Support Services.


• Identify training and development opportunities related to Patient Support Services and the broader organization.


• Ensures that all actions, both internally and externally, working on Acadia’s behalf are in compliance with all laws, regulations, policies and demonstrates Acadia values.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree, with an emphasis in life sciences preferred. RN,MSN, MBA is a plus


• To qualify for Family Support Educator Minimum of 5 years of relevant healthcare or pharmaceutical experience, including at least 2 years in patient support or education. Clinical backgrounds such as hospital nursing, social work, or patient advocacy within rare or neurological disease areas may be considered equivalent.


• To qualify for Senior Family Support Educator Minimum of 8 years of relevant healthcare or pharmaceutical experience, including at least 5 years in patient support or education. Clinical backgrounds such as nursing, social work, patient advocacy, or tenure within a specialty area (e.g., rare disease, neurology, pediatrics) may be considered equivalent to industry experience.


• Rare Disease, Product Launch, Advocacy, Medicaid and Medicare expertise strongly preferred with a strong background and understanding of field environment in healthcare industry. 


• Equivalent combination of relevant education and applicable job experience may be considered.

Required Skills:

• Rare Disease experience strongly preferred


• Experienced in patient/caregiver education strongly preferred


• Account Management experience preferred


• Advocacy experience preferred


• Strong background and understanding of field environment in healthcare industry


• Strong history of successful cross functional collaboration


• Demonstrated success in leading without authority


• Experience working with provider offices such as a physician practice, patient assistance programs, or similar pharmaceutical support program strongly preferred


• Exemplary interpersonal skills


• Must display a patient-centric mentality with a high degree of emotional intelligence and empathy


• Empathetic listening skills in order to interact effectively with customers


• Exceptional organizational and time management skills


• Understand HIPAA rules and regulations related to patient privacy


• Must possess strong written and verbal communications as well as presentation skills


• Excellent computer skills, including knowledge of Microsoft Office products including Outlook, Excel, Word and Power Point


• Ability to manage expenses within allocated budgets


• Must be a fast learner, flexible, able to work independently, and able adjust


• Strong enthusiasm with a drive to succeed within a team


• Ability to travel up to 70%, depending on territory


• Employee must be able to meet all additional local, state, and federal vaccination requirements for conducting in-person field coaching days, customer visits, admittance into local Community HCP Offices, as well as for attendance at Medical Congresses and Local Conferences for in person participation and exhibiting.

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