Postdoctoral Associate (Public Health Sciences)

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CORE JOB SUMMARY
The Post Doctoral Associate performs scientific research and studies under the supervision of managing staff. Moreover, the Post Doctoral Associate promotes institutional recognition through literal contributions to the scientific community.

CORE JOB FUNCTIONS
1. Conducts research on specific areas of study as assigned.
2. Prepares research reports and technical papers for publishing.
3. Investigates the feasibility of applying a wide variety of scientific principles and theories.
4. Maintains substantial knowledge of state-of-the-art principles and theories.
5. Develops advanced analytical models and systems and provides solutions and analyses to support strategic and tactical decisions.
6. Adheres to University and unit-level policies and procedures and safeguards University assets.

This list of duties and responsibilities is not intended to be all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties or responsibilities as necessary.

CORE QUALIFICATIONS
Education:
Doctorate degree Medicine (MD) required

Experience:
No previous experience required

Certification and Licensing:
Refer to department description for applicable certification requirements

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Learning Agility: Ability to learn new procedures, technologies, and protocols, and adapt to changing priorities and work demands.
• Teamwork: Ability to work collaboratively with others and contribute to a team environment.
• Technical Proficiency: Skilled in using office software, technology, and relevant computer applications.
• Communication: Strong and clear written and verbal communication skills for interacting with colleagues and stakeholders.

Department Specific Functions

Conduct Comparative Economic Evaluations of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Interventions

• Contribute to the department’s mission by conducting applied research focused on estimating economic impact of treatment and preventive interventions using cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses.
• Develop methods and tools to support budget impact analyses that can be adopted by researchers and organizations providing SUD treatment or related interventions addressing HIV or HCV among people who use substances.
• Collaborate with clinical and implementation teams to identify relevant cost and outcome measures for economic evaluations.

Support Economic Data Harmonization Initiatives

• Collaborate with multi-site research teams to standardize economic data collection instruments and protocols across diverse addiction treatment settings and populations.
• Develop and maintain data dictionaries and codebooks that map economic variables (e.g., healthcare costs, productivity losses, intervention resources) to common data elements for cross-study comparisons.
• Participate in working groups focused on establishing standardized costing methods and unit cost databases for addiction interventions, including medication-assisted treatment, behavioral therapies, and harm reduction services.
• Conduct crosswalks between different cost categorization systems (e.g., payer perspective vs. societal perspective) to enable meta-analyses and comparative effectiveness research.
• Review and synthesize literature on economic measurement approaches in addiction research to identify best practices for data harmonization.
• Assist in the development of guidelines and standard operating procedures for economic data collection that can be implemented across multiple studies within research networks.
• Support quality assurance processes to ensure consistency in how economic data are captured, coded, and reported across participating sites.
• Contribute to manuscripts and presentations documenting data harmonization methods and their impact on the quality and comparability of economic evidence in addiction science.

Contribute to Grant Development and Strategic Growth

• Support department-wide efforts to secure funding through contribution to grant writing, proposal development, and pilot study design.
• Assist in strategic planning and capacity building for new research initiatives, particularly those related to economic impact and implementation science, with a focus on programs and systems addressing substance use disorders.

Strengthen the Department’s Training and Mentorship Capacity

• Mentor MPH and PhD students through collaborative research, manuscript development, and professional development activities.
• Participate in departmental seminars, teaching opportunities, and workshops to foster a culture of learning and innovation.

Disseminate Research to Influence Policy and Practice

• Prepare high-impact manuscripts, briefs, and presentations that translate research into practice for policymakers, practitioners, and public health audiences.
• Contribute to the department’s visibility by presenting at national conferences, engaging in policy dialogues, and participating in research dissemination activities.

Department Specific Qualifications

Education:

• Applicants must have a doctoral degree (PhD, DrPH, ScD, or equivalent) in economics, implementation science, health services research, epidemiology, sociology, psychology, social work, or a related field by the start date of the fellowship.

Experience:

Required Skills and Experience:

• Strong foundation in health economics principles, including cost measurement, economic evaluation frameworks (cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, cost-benefit analysis), and perspective-based costing approaches.
• Strong foundation in statistics or econometrics.
• Understanding of costing methodologies for healthcare interventions, including micro-costing, gross-costing, and activity-based costing approaches.
• Proficiency in statistical software commonly used in health economics research (e.g., Stata, R, SAS) for data management, cleaning, and harmonization tasks.
• Proven ability to write scientific manuscripts, abstracts, and policy-relevant materials.
• Excellent organizational, communication, and time management skills.
• Commitment to health equity, implementation science, and community-driven research.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and within interdisciplinary teams.
• Experience working on NIH-funded research studies.

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Specific experience with SUD treatment data, including familiarity with addiction treatment modalities, service delivery settings, and relevant cost components.
• Prior involvement in multi-site research consortia, research networks, or coordinating centers where data harmonization was a key activity.
• Knowledge of implementation science frameworks and methods for measuring implementation costs and calculating cost-consequences of evidence-based practices.
• Experience with criminal justice system data and understanding of costs associated with justice-involved populations, including incarceration, supervision, and reentry services.
• Familiarity with patient-level costing methods and experience working with administrative claims data, electronic health records, or resource utilization databases.
• Background in systematic reviews or meta-analyses of economic evaluations, including experience with quality assessment tools for economic studies.
• Programming skills for reproducible research workflows (e.g., GitHub version control, R Markdown, Python for data processing).
• Knowledge of value of information analysis or other advanced health economics methods that rely on harmonized data from multiple sources.
• Experience with survey design and validation of patient-reported resource use questionnaires.

Knowledge and Attitudes:

Knowledge Requirements

• Comprehensive understanding of economic evaluation guidelines and reporting standards (e.g., CHEERS, ISPOR Good Research Practices) and their application to addiction research.
• Knowledge of healthcare financing and reimbursement systems, including public insurance programs (Medicare, Medicaid), private insurance, and safety-net funding mechanisms relevant to addiction treatment.
• Familiarity with the addiction treatment continuum of care, including prevention, screening and brief intervention, outpatient and residential treatment, medication-assisted treatment, recovery support services, and harm reduction programs.
• Understanding of health disparities and social determinants of health that impact economic outcomes in vulnerable populations affected by substance use disorders.
• Knowledge of ethical considerations in economic evaluation, including equity weighting, distributional cost-effectiveness analysis, and appropriate use of quality-adjusted life years in addiction research.
• Awareness of current policy debates and healthcare delivery innovations in addiction treatment (e.g., integration of behavioral health and primary care, telehealth for opioid use disorder, low-threshold treatment models).

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## Attitude Requirements
* Understanding of research data management principles, including data security, privacy protections (HIPAA, 42 CFR Part 2), and responsible data sharing practices.
* Familiarity with the landscape of addiction research funding mechanisms and networks (e.g., NIH HEAL Initiative, JCOIN, CTN) and their data infrastructure priorities.
* Strong commitment to scientific rigor and reproducibility, with dedication to transparent and well-documented research practices.
* Collaborative mindset and genuine interest in working across dis

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