Description

ABOUT THE JOB

Postdoctoral Associate position(s) available to pursue innovative, rigorous scholarship, examining whether long-term neighborhood changes improve the health of families and the next generation. The postdoctoral associate will collaborate on a recently funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) study focused on the influence of housing policy and neighborhood environment on health: including fertility, infant, maternal health and mortality, among families across generations. Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis until a candidate is hired. Multiple hires are possible.

The successful candidate for this position will work under the supervision of Dr. Theresa Osypuk, Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health, and Director of the Minnesota Population Center, to conduct population health research. The candidate will be housed within the vibrant intellectual research environment of the Minnesota Population Center (MPC), in the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation (ISRDI), at the University of Minnesota.  

RESPONSIBILITIES 

Specific responsibilities include conducting empirical analyses with the project data; developing, writing, presenting, and publishing research articles; collaborating with the interdisciplinary project team to execute the project; and engaging in professional development and mentoring. The postdoctoral associate will be expected to write, develop, and submit manuscripts to scientific journals; and present research findings at 1-2 scientific meetings annually (e.g., Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS), Population Association of America (PAA), and/or Society for Epidemiology Research (SER)). The postdoctoral associate will be mentored closely by Dr. Osypuk, meet with her at least weekly, and work closely with the cross-institutional research team. The successful candidate will also be encouraged to engage in MPC’s rich interdisciplinary intellectual environment. This may include attending research seminars and training workshops (occurring weekly during the academic year); participating in MPC’s research and professional development programming; developing professional connections with other researchers at MPC, ISRDI, and UMN; and other activities. 

APPOINTMENT DETAILS 

• The candidate is required to work on-site at the Twin Cities Campus of University of Minnesota for at least 30 hours/week. On-site work includes accessing data in the FSRDC and attending team meetings, events, activities, and professional development on Campus.
• The successful candidate will devote their effort to collaborative and independent research. The split of research time includes: 90% effort allocated to research devoted to this project, with 10% independent research (unrelated to this project, up to the discretion of the candidate).
• The start date is early Fall 2025. This is a 100%, 12-month appointment with the possibility of continuation subject to performance and availability of funding.

Requirements

Qualifications
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Doctoral degree in epidemiology, social epidemiology, public health, demography, or a related field by the start date
• Established record of population health research and scholarship
• Record of scholarly publication
• Strong quantitative analysis skills, with a minimum of 3 years of statistical programming experience with R, Stata, and/or SAS
• Excellent English language written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, especially with respect to academic writing
• Ability to advance science independently, and as part of collaborative teams
• Interest in fostering an inclusive environment and appreciation of differences in the workplace
• The selected candidate must have, or be able to acquire, Special Sworn Status, to work in the Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC), of the Census Bureau

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS*:

• Current Census Bureau Special Sworn Status,
• Research experience or interest examining fertility, maternal morbidity (health conditions during pregnancy), and/or infant health outcomes at birth
• Research experience or interest examining midlife mortality
• Expertise with linkage studies of administrative data, family structured data, nested data
• Experience analyzing data from the Moving to Opportunity Study, and/or cohort studies and/or social experiment studies of families and adolescents
• Experience or interest in the long-term effects of social contexts (e.g. neighborhoods, housing), structural factors, social policies, and their health effects
• Experience working in interdisciplinary teams

*Are you excited about this job and meet the required qualifications, but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every preferred qualification? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. If this is you, we strongly encourage you to apply because you just may be the right candidate for this role.