Postdoctoral Fellow Application

The focus of our research is on self-injury and depression among youth. We are currently looking to hire a full-time postdoctoral fellow to assist with NIMH- and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention-funded studies aimed at improving short-term risk prediction for suicidal behavior in adolescents. Studies assessing proximal risk for suicidal behavior use computational methods to model neurocognitive markers and/or ambulatory indices (i.e., mobile technology including actigraphy, passive sensing of physiological arousal, passive sensing of social engagement and physical activity, and ecological momentary assessment) in psychiatrically hospitalized youth (see RF1MH120830, R01MH124899, R01MH115905, K23MH126168). Additional studies focus on employing computer vision to identify visual indicators of suicide risk among adolescents (R21MH127231, YIG-1-020-20). Our most recently funded study aims to examine how parent-child stress interactions may be associated with or protect against suicide risk in adolescents using automatic sensing of acoustic and visual behaviors (R21MH130767). The postdoctoral fellow will work under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Liu and Dr. Taylor Burke at Massachusetts General Hospital.

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Duties & Responsibilities:

Responsibilities will include: training and supervising research assistants in research management (e.g., data collection and management); supervising and conducting diagnostic assessments; completing suicide risk assessments; assisting with data preparation and analysis, and contributing to scientific writing.  

 

Training Opportunities:

Support for the professional development of the fellow will be provided. Supervision towards licensure is available. There will be ample opportunities to receive training in designing and conducting research on suicide and nonsuicidal self-injury in youth. Training will be provided in suicide risk assessment and management. There will be opportunities to conduct independent research, submit presentations to national conferences, and prepare manuscripts for publication. There may also be opportunities for training in grant-writing.

 

Qualifications:

Qualified applicants must have a doctoral degree in clinical psychology or in a related field, excellent scientific writing, organizational, and interpersonal skills, and be able to work autonomously as well within a collaborative team environment. Experience with data management and statistical software (e.g., SPSS, REDCap, Mplus, R) and with writing scripts in E-Prime and Python are preferred but not required. Prior research, particularly independent research projects, is required. Experience with study coordination on federally funded studies and clinical experience (e.g., diagnostic interviewing, suicide risk assessment) is strongly recommended.

 

Application Information:

This position would involve both in-person and remote work. Interested applicants are invited to submit a cover letter and CV to Drs. Liu and Burke. Any questions regarding this position may be directed to Margarid Turnamian at MGHmoodandbehaviorlab@gmail.com. The deadline is rolling.

 

Candidates from underrepresented backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply. There may be unique training and development opportunities available to individuals from underrepresented backgrounds within our group.