The UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry seeks 1-2 postdoctoral fellows to begin in spring or summer 2024.

The fellow will be co-supervised by Dr. William Pelham and Dr. Sandra Brown and work on several NIH-funded projects conducted secondary data analysis of two large, ongoing longitudinal studies:

• The Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a national multisite consortium following nearly 12,000 children prospectively from late childhood to young adulthood

• The National Consortium on Alcohol & Neurodevelopment (NCANDA) Study, a multisite sequential cohort study following 830 participants across ages 13 to 27 years old

The projects will focus on 1 or more of the following topics: substance use, externalizing problems, and parenting and family processes.

The fellows' primary responsibilities will be writing manuscripts and conducting statistical analyses. The fellow is expected to be a co-author on several manuscripts from the corresponding research projects and to lead their own papers consistent with interests. The fellow will not have any duties pertaining to primary data collection (i.e., running participants). The data to be analyzed has already been cleaned by ABCD Study and NCANDA Consortia staff prior to public release. Thus, the fellow will not have data management responsibilities beyond restructuring data as necessary to address key questions.

These positions are ideal for someone hoping to increase their publication record during postdoc and launch an independent research career. We anticipate between 4-8 publications per year arising from these activities.

The fellows may be funded by ongoing research grants or by an NIAAA-funded T32 training program in alcohol research in which both Dr. Pelham and Dr. Brown are mentors. 

Training opportunities. The fellows will have access to several training opportunities at UCSD and through the ABCD Study Consortium. UCSD Psychiatry is 3rd in the U.S. in research funding, has more than 200 faculty members including national experts in many domains, and devotes extensive resources to postdoctoral training. The fellow may attend UCSD's biweekly Addiction Seminar, hosted by a NIAAA-funded T32 training program in alcohol research; participate in an annual Psychiatry Grant Writing Seminar and/or career development award (K) writing group; and attend speaker series through Psychiatry Grand Rounds, the Department of Psychology, and the Center for Human Development. Through participation in the ABCD Study Consortium, the fellow may gain exposure to senior investigators at 21 study sites across the U.S. and have access to feedback from groups of both domain-matter and biostatistical experts.

Grantwriting. The fellows' participation in grant writing is optional but encouraged. Pathways to a faculty position at UCSD are available for fellows who secure external funding. The School of Medicine has an exceptional track record of mentoring postdoctoral fellows into funded faculty positions. For example, more than 20 faculty members at UCSD hold active research career development (K) awards from NIDA/NIAAA.

Clinical licensure. UC San Diego is considered an exempt setting by the California Board of Psychology. Completion of supervised clinical research as part of this fellowship may count toward supervised professional experience (SPE) hours for clinical licensure in the State of California.

Benefits. The position includes a generous benefits package (medical, dental, vision).

Required qualifications:

• Doctoral level degree in clinical psychology or related discipline

Preferred qualifications:

• Evidence of research productivity including first-author publications

• Training and experience in substance use/addiction

• Training and experience in conduct problems/delinquency

• Training and experience in child/adolescent psychology/psychiatry

• Training and experience in statistical analysis and research design

• Competencies with statistical software such as R or Mplus