Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Multiomics and Causal Inference

Postdoctoral Research Scientist

The Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan is expanding a nationally and internationally funded research program at the cutting edge of cardiovascular medicine. Led by Drs. Venkatesh Murthy and Sascha Goonewardena - whose work has appeared in leading journals including NEJM AI, JAMA, and Circulation - the program fuses artificial intelligence, advanced cardiac imaging, multiomics (proteomics, metabolomics, and genomics), and cardiometabolic disease biology to develop precision diagnostics and identify novel therapeutic approaches, with a particular focus on coronary microvascular disease and other cardiovascular conditions that disproportionately affect women and remain poorly served by existing diagnostic tools.

This is a rare opportunity to join a high-impact, well-funded program doing science that matters.

This postdoctoral position offers an exceptional opportunity for a highly motivated researcher to lead the hypothesis-driven discovery work of the program's omics and causal inference work streams, under the primary supervision of Dr. Murthy, with close collaboration with Dr. Goonewardena and a broad network of national and international research partners. The fellow will lead multi-omic analyses using pipelines built by the program's computational team, drive causal inference studies in biobank-scale datasets, and translate findings into first-author publications.

This role emphasizes scientific leadership, discovery, and manuscript development. Appointments are made on an annual basis and are renewable, with a maximum total duration of three years, contingent on satisfactory performance and continued funding.

• Develop and apply analytical pipelines integrating high-throughput proteomic data with metabolomic, genomic, and clinical datasets from large prospective cohort studies to identify biological signatures of coronary microvascular disease and cardiometabolic disease
• Perform causal and genetic inference analyses - including Mendelian randomization and mediation analysis - in biobank-scale datasets
• Prepare first-author manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals and present work at national and international scientific meetings
• Contribute to grant applications, progress reports, and preliminary data generation for future funding
• Participate in laboratory meetings, journal clubs, and collaborative program activities
• Contribute to mentoring of junior trainees
• Other duties as assigned

• Doctoral degree (PhD, MD/PhD, or MD) in computational biology, bioinformatics, biostatistics, cardiovascular biology, epidemiology, or a closely related field
• Experience with proteomic, metabolomic, or other omic data analysis in a research context
• Proficiency in R and/or Python for statistical analysis and pipeline development
• Familiarity with causal inference or genetic epidemiology methods (e.g., Mendelian randomization, mediation analysis)
• Strong scientific writing and oral communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to drive projects to completion independently

• Experience with large prospective cohort or biobank datasets (CARDIA, MESA, Framingham Heart Study, UK Biobank, or similar)
• Experience with high-throughput proteomic platforms (Olink or Soma Scan)
• Background in cardiovascular biology, vascular biology, or cardiometabolic disease
• Track record of peer-reviewed publications relative to career stage
• Experience with multi-omic data integration
• Familiarity with HPC or cloud computing environments

Michigan Medicine is one of the largest health care complexes in the world and has been the site of many groundbreaking medical and technological advancements since the opening of the U-M Medical School in 1850. Michigan Medicine is comprised of over 30,000 employees and our vision is to attract, inspire, and develop outstanding people in medicine, sciences, and healthcare to become one of the world's most distinguished academic health systems.

In some way, great or small, every person here helps to advance this world-class institution. Work at Michigan Medicine and become a victor for the greater good.

What Benefits can you Look Forward to?

• Excellent medical, dental and vision coverage effective on your very first day
• 2:1 Match on retirement savings