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Postdoctoral Fellow to Faculty Pathway Program for Scholars Underrepresented in STEM: Developmental Brain Science Laboratory  

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University Langone Medical Center

Position

Two-year (up to five-year) NYU School of Medicine Scholar to Faculty Pathway Program

Mentors

Moriah Thomason, PhD

Natalie Brito, PhD

Obianuju Berry, MD, MPH

Clare McCormack, PhD

Overview

About

The Scholar to Faculty Pathway Program aims to increase the number of clinical and basic science researchers from underrepresented communities in science that rise to become faculty members of NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Postdoctoral fellows who are selected for this program receive culturally relevant mentoring and support, additional funding, and opportunities to connect with a cohort to support their transition from being a postdoctoral fellow to potentially joining the NYU Grossman School of Medicine faculty.

* COHORT OF PEER MENTORS

* COMPETITIVE SALARY

* RESEARCH SUPPORT

* FUNDING TO ATTEND CONFERENCES

* ATTRACTIVE BENEFITS PACKAGE

* UP TO 5Y FINANCIAL SUPPORT

* TAILORED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

(COACHING, MENTORING, NETWORKING)

* SUPPLEMENTAL RESEARCH FUNDING

* STRONG CONSIDERATION FOR NYU

FACULTY RECRUITMENT

Program Benefits

  • Cohort of peer mentors

  • Competitive salary

  • Research support

  • Attractive benefits package

  • Funding to attend conferences

  • Tailored professional development (e.g., coaching, mentoring, networking)

  • Supplemental research funding

  • Strong consideration for NYU faculty recruitment

Position Summary

Drs. Thomason, Brito, Berry and McCormack collaborate on a number of federally funded research projects. As a group, we use a number of approaches, including fetal and neonatal MRI, mother-child dyadic observation, interviews, questionnaires, child EEG, fNIRS, wearables and remote sensing, eye-tracking, and home visits to characterize both the environment and also individual development. The ultimate goal of our work is to understand biological bases of neurodevelopmental disorders and to better understand factors in the environment that increase or mitigate risk.

 

The postdoctoral fellow will leverage extensive data collected as part of the NIH COVID-19 and Perinatal Experiences (COPE; links here and here) and the Perinatal Imaging of Neural Development (PINC; links here and here) Studies, and will support execution of the NIH HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study. All are prospective longitudinal, neurodevelopmental studies beginning at birth and continuing through early childhood. COPE is a NYC-based study that began in 2020; PINC is a Detroit-based study that began in 2011; and HBCD is a national multi-site study that will enroll more than 7,500 children across 25 US sites. The postdoctoral fellow will also have opportunities to build connections across the HBCD National Network of neuroimaging sites, opportunities to mentor students and trainees, and resources to develop independent research questions across a wide variety of available longitudinal, multi-level datasets.

 

Applicants with experience and interest in developmental psychopathology (i.e., mood-disorders), with a focus on under-resourced communities and racial/ethnic minority populations, as well as prenatal disease origins, infant mental health, and risk/protective mechanisms are especially encouraged to apply.

 

The position includes ample RA support, collaborations with graduate students and faculty, engagement with the NYU Postdoctoral Fellow Faculty Pathway Program and close collaboration with the mentorship team.

Responsibilities

  • Data analyses, conference presentations, manuscript preparation

  • Supervision and mentoring of research assistants, graduate students, and student volunteers

  • Initiating and directing data quality assurance protocols and data sharing procedures

  • Data collection: MRI in infants and toddlers, behavioral testing, biospecimen collection

Required Qualifications

  • PhD in a relevant discipline (e.g. clinical psychology, neuroscience, developmental psychology, bioengineering) by the time of position initiation

Preferred Qualifications

  • Strong interpersonal and organizational skills

  • Background in developmental neuroscience research

  • Experience in functional MRI, functional connectivity, DTI, and/or EEG

  • Experience with longitudinal modeling

  • Experience with early childhood behavioral assessments

  • Programming skills (e.g., Matlab, Python, R)

  • Statistical analysis skills (Mplus, R, or other)

  • A promising publication record

Application

Applicants should submit a CV, a statement of research achievements, a statement of future career goals, and a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement. Information on how to apply and what should be included is available here: https://med.nyu.edu/research/postdoctoral-training/scholar-to-faculty-pathway-program. Please reference the names of Dr. Thomason, Brito, Berry and/or McCormack in application materials (e.g., in the statement of future career goals) to correctly route your application in the pathway program.

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