NYU Grossman School of Medicine offers a two- to four-year, National Institutes of Health–funded Developmental Brain Science Fellowship at the Child Study Center, part of Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone.

Our postdoctoral fellowship, offered through the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, is intended for candidates who have successfully completed an accredited doctoral program in clinical psychology, neuroscience, developmental psychology, or a related field.

Those with experience and interest in developmental psychopathology—specifically mood disorders and cognitive control deficits—in underserved and predominantly minority populations, prenatal disease origins, infant mental health, and risk and protective mechanisms are especially encouraged to apply.

This fellowship is funded by a National Institute of Mental Health Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists R01 grant, In Utero Assessment of the Human Neural Connectome and Later Child Behavior.

The research director is Moriah E. Thomason, PhD. This is not a clinical fellowship program.

Fellowship Training

This program uses MRI techniques to examine neural networks at the beginning of human life and addresses how variation in network properties relate to child neurobehavioral development. We use a number of approaches, including fetal and neonatal MRI, mother–child dyadic observation, interviews, questionnaires, child electroencephalogram (EEG), actigraphy, and home visits to characterize child environment and individual development.

The ultimate goal is to understand the biological bases of neurodevelopmental disorders and to better understand factors in the environment that increase or mitigate risk. Fellows may be funded for up to four years pending performance and grant support.

As a fellow, you supervise longitudinal data collection and leverage an existing, extensive dataset to test hypotheses that link early brain biomarkers to neurobehavioral development. Your duties and responsibilities include the following:

• supervising data collection personnel, including research assistants and student volunteers
• ensuring that research data from fetal and infant functional MRI and behavioral visits are stored and maintained in a uniform fashion and in compliance with all standards set by the university for human participant research
• initiating and directing data quality assurance protocols and data sharing procedures
• analyzing data, presenting at conferences, preparing manuscripts

Preferred qualifications include a background in developmental neuroscience research and conducting early childhood behavioral assessments; experience with functional MRI, functional connectivity, diffusion tensor imaging, and/or EEG; computer programming experience (Matlab, Mplus, or R); and expertise in statistics (SPSS, R, or other). A promising publication record and strong interpersonal and organizational skills are desirable.

The position includes ample support from research assistants, collaborations with graduate students and faculty, and close collaboration with the primary investigator (PI).

The PI is committed to providing fellows with mentorship opportunities and support in establishing the skills you need to direct an independent research program. This includes providing support for submitting and publishing research papers, presenting research at conferences, and writing new grant proposals as a lead investigator–trainee (e.g., National Research Service Award, K01, K99). The starting salary range is $57,000 to $67,000 per year.

How to Apply

Applicants should submit a cover letter, the names and contact information for three references, and a CV as a single PDF with the subject line “Postdoctoral Fellowship Applicant” to Maya Ruiz at maya.ruiz@nyulangone.org.