Postdoctoral Fellow

Discover Your Career at Emory University

Emory University is a leading research university that fosters excellence and attracts world-class talent to innovate today and prepare leaders for the future. We welcome candidates who can contribute to the excellence of our academic community.

Description

RESPONSOBILITIES

• Design, train, and evaluate NLP and LLM methods (fine-tuning, prompting, retrieval, agents) for clinical notes, social media, and other text sources.
• Build and validate pipelines for tasks such as information extraction, classification, and phenotyping, including evaluation of bias, reliability, and generalizability.
• Work with clinicians, epidemiologists, and public health collaborators to turn methods into usable tools.
• Lead and co-author peer-reviewed papers and conference submissions, and present at national meetings. 
• Contribute to grant proposals and project reports.
• Mentor graduate and undergraduate students and collaborate across the department.
• Follow data security, privacy, and IRB requirements for sensitive health data. Required Qualifications
• PhD in computer science, biomedical informatics, computational linguistics, data science, or a related field, completed or expected within six months.
• Demonstrated experience in NLP, including transformer-based models and LLMs.
• Strong programming skills in Python and experience with PyTorch or a similar deep learning framework, plus Hugging Face tools.
• A record of peer-reviewed publications in NLP, machine learning, or biomedical informatics venues.
• Strong written and oral communication skills and the ability to work independently and in teams. Preferred Qualifications
• Experience with clinical text, electronic health records, or social media data.
• Background in substance use, mental health, or public health research.
• Experience with LLM evaluation, fairness analysis, or deploying open-source models on GPU clusters.

JOB DESCRIPTION: 

• Helps design and conduct research within a specified field while receiving advanced training from a designated Principal Investigator to enhance professional skills and research independence needed for pursuit of a career.
• The specific area of research in which the trainee is mentored is determined by the department and laboratory of the Postdoc. Designs and evaluates experiments.
• Develops new ideas that promote current research.
• Prepares and publishes scientific manuscripts under the direction of the Principal Investigator.
• May be responsible for operation of specific equipment.
• May teach techniques to others, train, and supervise research staff.
• Positions are temporary appointments as a research trainee.
• The initial appointment is for one year, renewal expected if progress is satisfactory and funds are available.
• Appointments cannot exceed five years. 

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: 

• A doctoral degree or equivalent (Ph.D., M.D., ScD., D.V.M., DDS etc) in an appropriate field.
• Excellent scientific writing ability and strong oral communication skills.
• The ability to work effectively and collegially with colleagues.
• Additional qualifications as specified by the Principal Investigator.

NOTE: Position tasks are generally required to be performed in-person at an Emory University location.  Remote work from home day options may be granted at department discretion. Emory reserves the right to change remote work status with notice to employee.

Additional Details

Emory is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by state or federal law. Emory University does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment, including recruitment, hiring, promotions, transfers, discipline, terminations, wage and salary administration, benefits, and training. Students, faculty, and staff are assured of participation in university programs and in the use of facilities without such discrimination. Emory University complies with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Assistance Act, and applicable executive orders, federal and state regulations regarding nondiscrimination, equal opportunity, and affirmative action (for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities). Inquiries regarding this policy should be directed to the Emory University Department of Equity and Civil Rights Compliance, 201 Dowman Drive, Administration Building, Atlanta, GA 30322. Telephone: 404-727-9867 (V) | 404-712-2049 (TDD).

Emory University is committed to ensuring equal access and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to seek a reasonable accommodation, please contact the Department of Accessibility Services at [email protected] or call 404-727-9877 (Voice) | 404-712-2049 (TDD). We kindly ask that requests be made at least seven business days in advance to allow adequate time for coordination.