Postdoctoral Research Fellow

School Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Department/Area:
Social & Behavioral Sciences

The Population Wellness Lab
, led by Dr. Christy

A. Denckla in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, focuses on understanding the impact of adversity on human potential and well‑being, especially trauma and bereavement. The laboratory is currently funded by a 5‑year R01 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study social disruptions on mental and physical health outcomes across the Nurses Health Study (NHS), NHS2, and Health Professionals Follow‑up Study (HPFS) cohorts.

The postdoctoral research fellow will contribute to multiple research projects through the following activities:

• Ensuring adherence to data security and responsible conduct of research guidelines.
• Managing, cleaning, analyzing, and interpreting psychosocial and genetic data.
• Preparing manuscripts and submitting them for publication.
• Writing grant proposals and administrative components, including progress reports.
• Conducting literature reviews and summarizing large amounts of published material.
• Providing project support tasks such as project management, drafting data transfer agreements, developing website content, managing social media, and drafting proposals.

• General Research
  
  Activities:
  
  independently carrying out designated research tasks and projects, using longitudinal designs, moderation and mediation, causal inference, library research, and statistical analysis including data visualization, descriptive analyses, time series analyses, latent modeling, and multilevel modeling.
• Data Cleaning and Management: engaged in data management and cleaning of large datasets (N≈100,000) from the NHS cohorts and HPFS.
• Data/Statistical Analysis: processing, organizing, and summarizing data using R, SAS, Python, and MPlus.
• Acquiring Specialized Training: attending trainings and workshops to acquire new statistical skills.
• Reporting Results: submitting periodic project status reports and suggesting additional tests or modifications.
• Manuscript Support: organizing, drafting, and preparing manuscripts, progress reports, articles, and other publications, including reference management.
• Data Safety: monitoring data safety protocols and responsible conduct of research practices.
• Responsible Conduct of Research: applying best practices for data management and reproducible research, including commented code and R Markdown.

• General Support: assisting with project management tasks such as website management, newsletter writing, email listserv management, social media management, and IT support.
• Other Responsibilities:
  
  performing other duties as assigned, supporting other research assistants, aiding in the development of measurement tools, updating repositories of well‑being and resilience measures, and providing mentorship for early‑career awards and independent grant funding.

• Doctoral‑level degree in public health, social sciences, or related discipline.
• Successful defense of dissertation.
• Strong research skills including data collection, advanced analytical skills, and scientific writing.
• Publication record with significant contributions to peer‑reviewed publications beyond thesis papers.
• Ability to lead research teams and manage research projects, supervise research staff, coordinate with administrators regarding budget and staffing, and ensure research activities meet ethical guidelines.
• Excellent planning, analytical, organizational, communication, and decision‑making skills.

• Preferred: experience with longitudinal cohort studies and familiarity with the Nurses Health Study or similar large health cohorts.
• Preferred: proficiency with R, SAS, Python, and MPlus for statistical analysis.
• Preferred: experience in grant writing and administrative components of grant submissions.

Salary Range: $65,000–73,000 based on qualifications and experience.

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