Postdoctoral Scholar

ECU is in Greenville, a city of 90,000 residents in North Carolina's coastal region. Greenville offers a growing, vibrant college-town atmosphere, a temperate climate, and outstanding cultural and outdoor recreational opportunities, along with affordable costs of living ( www.greenvillenc.gov). ECU is a member of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system, dedicated to serving our state and its people through world-class teaching, outreach, service, research, and scholarship.

The Department of Pharmacology consists of 13 full-time faculty members, nine full-time research technicians, three postdoctoral scientists, two full-time administrative staff, and 13 graduate students. The department teaches pharmacology, therapeutics, and toxicology to medical, dental, graduate, and nursing students. A wide variety of specialized courses is also taught for graduate students. The educational objective of the department is to provide a sound basic foundation upon which medical and dental students may build rational approaches to drug therapy regardless of the area of clinical specialization. The graduate program through the Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences, Pharmacology and Toxicology Concentration, is broadly based to prepare students for careers in academics, research, government, industry, and medicine.

State-of-the-art facilities support research across pharmacology and toxicology domains, with strengths in cardiovascular, neuro-, and cancer pharmacology and developmental and neurotoxicology. Faculty members have multiple collaborations with scientists across the university and with academic, government, and industrial scientists outside the university. The Department has a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research and has maintained a strong record of extramural funding from myriad sources. In addition to their teaching duties, each of the faculty members has a research laboratory and performs research in his/her area of expertise. Faculty are expected to apply for grant support and to publish the results of their research in professional journals.

The postdoctoral scholar is responsible for independent and collaborative development, implementation, and analysis of scientific research in the discipline of statistical genetics and computational genomics, with a focus on genomic discovery, high-dimensional modeling, and precision medicine approaches for primary open-angle glaucoma.

Responsibilities include management of all aspects of computational workflow development for genomic data, including genotype quality control, imputation, multi-cohort harmonization, fine-mapping, and polygenic risk score modeling for NIH-funded research projects, particularly R01EY033829 (Optimizing genetic risk models for primary open-angle glaucoma through expanded population genomic analysis).

Duties include: hypothesis development, literature review, collection of pilot data, report writing, and supervising of undergraduate research students and graduate research students, overseeing data collection procedures, supervising experimental procedures, review of data for quality control, supervision of data entry/data analysis, analysis of research hypothesis using descriptive and multivariate statistics, and the development of independent and collaborative presentations and publications. Additional duties include collaboration with multi-institutional partners, troubleshooting genomic datasets, maintaining reproducible code repositories, and contributing to scientific manuscripts and grant applications. Scholars are expected to demonstrate compliance with established guidelines and regulatory standards for research, including biosafety, responsible conduct of research, and human subjects training.

Approximately 80% of the postdoctoral scholar's time will be devoted to research and scholarly activity, including: 50% computational genomics and statistical genetics research activities (e.g., genotype quality control, imputation, multi-cohort harmonization, fine-mapping, ancestry modeling, and polygenic risk score development for NIH-funded projects); 15% development and maintenance of reproducible computational workflows, code repositories, and data pipelines supporting large-scale genomic analyses; 15% dissemination of research findings, including manuscript preparation, conference presentations, and contributions to grant applications.

Approximately 20% of the postdoctoral scholar's time will be devoted to research training and supervision, including: (1) mentoring and supervising undergraduate and graduate research students; (2) providing technical guidance on data analysis and computational workflows; and (3) supporting collaborative research activities within the laboratory and with multi-institutional partners.

PhD, MD or equivalent doctoral degree in a relevant field
Excellent written and oral communication skills
English Proficiency

None

To be considered for this position, all applicants must apply through PeopleAdmin and attach their CV or resume, cover letter, and names and contact information of 3 references. Appointments are typically for a one-year period. Five years (typically five appointments of one year) is typically the maximum total period that any individual may serve as a Scholar.

The University, in its sole discretion, has the option to renew or extend any appointment, subject to the availability of funds, past performance evaluations, and/or any other lawful reasons. For other information on the ECU Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, please visit our website at: https://rede.ecu.edu/postdoctoral/

East Carolina University is committed to workforce success and cultivating a culture of care for our employees. ECU prohibits unlawful discrimination and harassment based on race/ethnicity, color, genetic information, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, political affiliation, and veteran status. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their protected veteran status or disability.

Individuals requesting accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act ( ADAAA) should contact the ADA Coordinator at (252) 737-1018 (Voice/ TTY) or ADA-Coordinator@ecu.edu.

Final candidates are subject to criminal & sex offender background checks. Some vacancies also require credit or motor vehicle checks. ECU participates in E-Verify. Federal law requires all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States. If highest degree earned is from an institution outside of the U.S. and its territories, final candidates are required to have their degree validated as equivalent to the degree conferred by a regionally accredited college or university in the U.S.

If you experience any problems accessing the system or have questions about the application process, please contact the Department for People Operations, Success, and Opportunity at (252) 328-9847 or toll free at 1-866-489-1740 or send an email to employment@ecu.edu. Our office is available to provide assistance Monday-Friday from 8:00-5:00 EST.