The AI.Health4All Center for Health Equity using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) College of Medicine is seeking applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to enhance our bioinformatics and computer science capacity to support the Center’s research programs.
This position will provide the successful candidate with opportunities to engage in mentored research, gaining experience in building artificial intelligence applications, natural language processing, machine and deep learning algorithms for health care data; manuscript/grant preparation; and knowledge translation to improve the equity of health care systems and disadvantaged populations.
The candidate will join a multisite research effort to develop an algorithmic phenotype for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a complex medical condition that usually takes approximately 20 years or more to diagnose, using data from the electronic health record (EHR). This position will be focused on using natural language processing and machine learning to develop classifiers for EDS using data from the COSMOS dataset and the EHR (EPIC) at each of our institutions, which serve different groups of underserved populations. The goal of the project is to derive an algorithmic phenotype for EDS as well as identify a potential population prevalence for EDS to be utilized for diagnostic and clinical management of the syndrome.
The process of creating an algorithmic phenotype for a complex medical syndrome, such as EDS, will be valuable as more researchers turn to EPIC, COSMOS, and other tools to seek disease prevalence and demography of other complex conditions, which will in turn, improve the health care service systems that care for them. In addition, the Postdoctoral Associate will have access to UIC’s expansive opportunities to join other AI.Health4All research projects and publish papers.
Mentoring
The Postdoctoral Research Associate will be affiliated AI.Health4All Center and expected to participate in monthly seminars as well as a writing seminar with other postdoctoral research Associates to develop a future competitive career award proposal for their own research. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will have a mentoring committee that includes faculty and experts from the fields AI/ML, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), and research design/analysis to support professional development, including faculty from UIC, University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the Medical College of South Carolina.
Duties & Responsibilities
- Research Design: Develop research strategies and study designs that leverage bioinformatics, AI, ML, and NLP to investigate disease prevalence and demography of people with EDS.
- Data Collection and Analysis: Collect, preprocess, and analyze healthcare data, including electronic health records, surveys, and other relevant datasets.
- Algorithm Development: Learn, develop, and refine AI and ML algorithms to develop a computable clinical phenotype algorithm for EDS.
- Career Pathway: Work with the faculty mentors to formulate a comprehensive career development plan focused on advancing expertise in health disparity research and submitting a competitive career award proposal.
- Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Collaborate with experts in health services research, epidemiology, public health, and related fields to gain insights and inform research directions.
- Publication and Presentation: Prepare research findings for publication in peer-reviewed journals and present results at conferences and seminars.
- Grant Writing: Contribute to grant proposal development to secure funding for ongoing research projects
- Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned.
Qualifications:
Minimum Qualifications
• Ph.D. in a relevant field such as computer science, data science, bioinformatics, or a related discipline. Must have received a doctorate within the last five years and may only be appointed to this title for five years. Invitations to apply extend to individuals who will have their Ph.D. conferred prior to the commencement of employment.
• Strong background in bioinformatics, machine learning, natural language processing, and data analysis.
• Experience working with healthcare datasets and familiarity with relevant privacy and security regulations.
• Strong problem-solving and critical thinking skills, with the ability to translate complex data into actionable insights.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively with interdisciplinary teams and stakeholders. Preferred Qualifications Preferred Qualifications • Expertise using healthcare data from an electronic health record
• Background knowledge of medical terminology.
•Communication and writing skills with success in previous academic research
Preferred Qualifications
Expertise using healthcare data from an electronic health record
Background knowledge of medical terminology.
Communication and writing skills with success in previous academic research
Application Instructions:
To apply, include a letter of interest detailing how your skills and experience relate to the qualifications, CV, and list of three professional references to Rebecca Feinstein, MPH, MSW, PhD at rfeinst@uic.edu.
For fullest consideration, resumes should be received by November 30, 2024
