Postdoctoral Research Position to Study Public Understanding of Genetics/Genomics

Professors Michelle Meyer and Christopher Chabris are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Fellow atto investigate the public understanding of genomics, including: how people understand personalized genetic information; how they view themselves, others, or human traits, behaviors and outcomes in light of genomic information; how they behave in response to this information; and how people understand and respond to scientific knowledge about the relationships between genes, behavior, health, and disease.

The position is fully funded by a three-year grant to Professor Meyer to investigate the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of social/behavioral genetics as well as certain kinds of clinical genetic information (i.e., polygenic scores). ELSI research should be understood broadly. Within the context of the grant, it includes (but is not limited to): how people understand genetic information, especially personalized information; how they view themselves, others, or human traits, behaviors and outcomes in light of this information; how they behave in response to this information; and how people understand and respond to scientific knowledge about the relationships between genes, behavior, health, and disease.

The postdoc will primarily carry out collaborative behavioral science research aimed at investigating these and related questions and will be encouraged to propose studies within the broad scope of the grant. The postdoc will report to Professors Meyer and Chabris. They will join the interdisciplinary Meyer-Chabris Lab (www.meyerchabrislab.com/people) and the broader growing community of social scientists at Geisinger (e.g., its Behavioral Insights Team—www.meyerchabrislab.com/behavioral-insights-team.html). They will collaborate with other researchers across disciplines inside and outside of Geisinger, and will be based in either Lewisburg or Danville, Pennsylvania (with remote work a possibility for exceptional candidates). The postdoc will assist in planning and carrying out web-based surveys, field studies, and archival research, and in analyzing general patterns of responses as well as individual differences. They will be expected to employ a combination of approaches, from the identification and analysis of existing real-world data sets, to the design and analysis of field or lab intervention studies. We are particularly interested in candidates with strong statistical and/or computational skills. Other duties include contribution to ongoing research projects, preparation of talks and participation in seminars, and drafting reports, grant applications, and papers for publication. There will also be opportunities to collaborate on relevant bioethics, law, and policy articles.

Required qualifications:
•  A Ph.D. (completed by start of employment) in social, cognitive, or health psychology, another social science, public health, communications, genetics, or any other relevant scientific discipline
•   Interest in research on human genetics and its applications
•  Training in behavioral science research methods, including experimentation and multivariate data analysis
•   Experience with statistical software (preferably R, others acceptable)

Desired qualifications:
•  Scientific publications
•   Experience in interdisciplinary research, working in collaborative teams, and  managing research assistants
•   Experience with programming (e.g., Python)
•   Experience with information visualization techniques and software
•   Coursework or degree in genetics
•   Experience with qualitative research methods (e.g., focus groups, semi-structured interviews, coding free response data)
•   Interest, experience, or expertise in policy or normative research
•   Interest, experience, or expertise in communicating science to the public

Duration: This is a one-year position with the expectation of renewal for one or more additional years conditional on performance.

Start date: ASAP (but somewhat flexible).

To apply: Please send a brief cover letter, C.V., and two representative publications or manuscripts in a single email to meyerchabrispostdoc@gmail.com. Please include names, titles, and contact information for two references. Questions about the position may also be sent to the same address. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Geisinger Health System is a large, integrated health services organization that, through its 12 hospital campuses, serves more than 3 million residents throughout 45 counties in central, south-central and northeastern Pennsylvania, and in southern New Jersey. As an aspiring learning health care system, Geisinger strives to integrate research into all aspects of medicine and healthcare delivery. Research at Geisinger benefits from the system’s 25 years of electronic health records, its clinical data warehouse, and its rapidly growing biobank (more than 250,000 patient-participants consented for whole exome genetic sequencing, with over 92,000 exomes sequenced to date).Geisinger’smain campus in Danville, PA, is located within a three-hour drive of New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC.

Professor Meyer: http://www.michellenmeyer.com
Professor Chabris: http://www.chabris.com
Research at Geisinger Health System: https://www.geisinger.edu/research