Northern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE) is the leading nonprofit research institute in the United States devoted to advancing Veterans health research. NCIRE is part of one of the world’s most dedicated and successful Veterans care communities, pioneering new treatments and understandings of military medicine and care.

Along with our partners at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco, we are working to discover and develop effective, safe, and practical treatments for military injuries and diseases affecting Veterans. Through new technologies, novel scientific insights, and international clinical collaborations, we strive to set a new standard of health care research for Veterans and military personnel.

Position Definition:

We have an extremely innovative and exciting opportunity for an Assistant Research Scientist at the Northern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE) in San Francisco. The applicant will be involved in research on substance use disorders (e.g. alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine etc.) and traumatic brain injury. Substance use disorder and traumatic brain injury frequently co-occur and have the potential to exacerbate each other, thereby impacting treatment effectiveness.

Our team is currently investigating various approaches to improve treatment among patients with these co-occurring conditions. We utilize digital health technology to improve cognitive functioning, particularly executive function, and investigate various stimulation methods (neural and peripheral nerve stimulation) for patients with these co-occurring conditions. Chronic substance use and history of traumatic brain injury can lead to quantifiable alterations in brain’s structural and functional organization, which impact the effectiveness of cognitive training and stimulation approaches. Therefore, we use multimodal imaging in combination with advanced network analyses of the structural and functional brain network organization to optimize these novel treatments.

The applicant will closely work with the PI, David Pennington, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry UCSF Weill Institute of Neuroscience, Associate Director UCSF Addiction Research Program.

Essential Functions:

• Quantitative analysis of data including neuropsychological tests, multimodal MR imaging and biomarker data from longitudinal studies in addiction and traumatic brain injury
• Work with Principal Investigator to generate hypotheses, plan analyses and interpret data
• Develop new ways to use MRI and biomarker data for personalized treatment of addiction and traumatic brain injury patients
• Seek out new funding opportunities and helping to write grants and proposals
• Write manuscripts and abstracts, present findings at scientific meetings and conferences

Job Requirements:

• PhD or doctorate in psychology, neuroscience, or related field
• At least 3 years of demonstrated academic research experience in MRI data analysis with focus on multimodal imaging data analysis
• Demonstrated research experience and first author publications in substance use disorder and traumatic brain injury
• Experience with at least one applied programming language (e.g. Matlab, R, Python)
• Experience with imaging analysis software (e.g. SPM, FSL, Freesurfer, Conn, DSI Studio, ExploreDTI)
• Experience in scientific writing: will be able to provide several examples of first author peer-reviewed articles and poster presentations

Other Preferred Qualifications:

• Additional experience with peripheral or neurostimulation methods (e.g. TMS, tDCS)
• Experience with experimental design and implementation
• Experience writing grants and other proposals
• Strong organizational ability and ability to work independently, strong communication skills

The salary range for this position is $64,480.00 - $82,729.92.