The San Francisco VA Health Care System is recruiting for a two-year postdoctoral advanced fellowship program in data science with a focus on trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research. The fellowship is associated with the Sierra Pacific Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC; VISN 21) and affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco. It is funded by the Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
The primary goal of this fellowship program is to train individuals with prior experience in data science or data analysis to become leading researchers in trauma and PTSD research. Over the course of the two-year program, fellows are trained in trauma and PTSD, clinical research, and data science. The fellowship combines individual mentored research with state-of-the-art educational experiences.
Fellows benefit from an outstanding video conference seminar series. Three times a month, a leading expert in the field presents to fellows at all sites through the video conferencing system. The didactics emphasize three main areas. One includes presentations on all aspects of career development from grant and manuscript preparation to the role of mentorship. The second emphasis is on the most recent advances in conducting specific components of clinical research in mental health, from genetics to designing the best interventions. The third emphasis is on data science, quantitative methods, and big data, particularly as it applies to VA’s national electronic health database. Seminar topics last year included VA career development, funding and resources, behavioral genetics, machine learning, and health informatics.
Ongoing multi-site workshops on manuscript and grant preparation are also provided to the fellows in addition to ongoing weekly biostatistical consultation through the coordinating center. There is a strong emphasis on state-of-the-art methodological approaches to mental health research both through one-on-one mentoring and in-person seminars focused on PTSD.
Fellows devote 100 percent of their time to research and educational activities. In collaboration with their mentors, fellows will develop and implement research projects, publish and present findings, and participate in grant writing.
Core faculty members
- Aoife O’Donovan, PhD, fellowship director
- Shira Maguen, PhD
- Sabra Inslicht, PhD
- Thomas Neylan, MD
- Anne Richards, MD
- Karen Seal, MD
Application information
Applications are now being accepted for the 2025-2026 academic year. Application review will start December 15, 2024, and continue until position is filled.
Interested data scientists, psychologists, public health researchers, neuroscientists and others who meet the eligibility requirements should submit the following to aoife.o’[email protected]:
- A letter of interest detailing the applicant’s research experience, interests, career goals, and proposed faculty mentor(s) from list above
- CV
- Three letters of recommendation
Please include items #1 and #2 in a combined PDF file. Letters should be emailed directly by recommenders to aoife.o’[email protected].
