Post-Doctoral Fellow

Benefits

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Unit

School Of Medicine MBU

Department

Psychiatry

Duties & Responsibilities

A postdoctoral position is available at the VIPBG to studyphenotypic and genetic etiology of complex traits, includingneuropsychiatric and substance disorders. Candidates should haveexperience with computational and statistical approaches foranalyzing phenotypic and genetics data. Candidates who have strongbackgrounds in statistical and/or machine learning approachesare also encouraged toapply.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will analyze and/or develop pipelines toanalyze phenotypic and genetic data generated from two primarysources:

• The Asian Bipolar Genetics Network (A-BIG-NET, ). A-BIG-NET is astudy designed to advance our understanding of the genetic basis ofbipolar disorder in Asian populations with a large, multi-nationalsample collection. It is a collaborative grant among the BroadInstitute, National Taiwan University, Virginia CommonwealthUniversity, and Johns Hopkins University, with investigators fromthe United States, India, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan,and Vietnam.
• Biobank and Public Datasets : Large-scale biobank data(e.g., the UK Biobank, the All of Us Research Program) and otherrelevant public datasets.

Minimum Qualifications

• Candidates should hold an M.D. or Ph.D. in quantitativepsychology, genetics, statistics, computational biology,bioinformatics, or a similar quantitative discipline. Essentialqualifications include a strong publication record in the geneticsand genomics of complex traits. Proficiency in programminglanguages such as Python or R and experience with high-performancecomputing (HPC) environments are also required. Prior experiencewith genome-wide association studies (GWAS) or next-generationsequencing studies is necessary.
• Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment ofrespect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty,staff, and students from various backgrounds and experiences, or acommitment to do so as a staff member at VCU.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with neuropsychiatric and substance use disorders(or other complex traits)
• Experience with machine learning approaches
• Experience with Bayesian data analysis
• Experience with the development and implementation of newcomputational tools for complex traits.
• Experience with genetics analysis tools (e.g., PLINK,SAIGE)
• A proven ability to work independently while also thriving in acollaborative research environment.
• Strong critical and independent thinking skills.

The VIPBG is an exciting, highly collaborative research environmentwith a strong record of funding, research and training. We focus onsome of the most challenging and important problems in all ofbio-medicine, and we have contributed some of the most importantfindings in psychiatric and behavioral genetics in our >25 yearhistory. We look forward to future successes with new projects,faculty, trainees and collaborations. The application will beco-mentored by Drs. Kendler and Nguyen, and theircollaborators.

Contact

Interested candidates may reach out to Tan Hoang Nguyen at and Kenneth Kendler at

Position will remain open until filled. This will be a minimumone-year appointment, contingent upon satisfactory annual reviews.Salary is commensurate with NIH guidelines and applicantexperience.

VCU is committed to hiring veterans! VCU will include a veteran's period(s) of military service in the calculation of their annual leave accrual rate. This may provide veterans with an increased leave accrual!

Salary Range

NIH minimum starting at $62,232

FLSA Exemption Status

Exempt

ORP Eligible

Yes

Rank

Non Faculty