Postdoctoral Research Scientist

Job Title

Postdoctoral Research Scientist

20

$73,045-$87,987

The Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene is seeking a qualified candidate to fill a full‑time Postdoctoral Research Scientist position. The Center for Behavioral Health and Youth Justice at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute is recruiting a postdoctoral fellow interested in a career conducting research on understanding and addressing mental health and substance use problems among youth and young adults involved with the justice system.

The fellow will work directly under the mentorship of Dr. Katherine Elkington for an interactive, in‑person fellowship, with opportunities for external mentorship from researchers from the broader Columbia University Irving Medical Center and from within the NIDA Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network. The fellow will primarily work on two NIDA‑funded initiatives:
Project Court REACH (UG1DA05700) – focused on developing and testing implementation strategies to support the roll‑out of 10 novel opioid courts across New York State ((Use the "Apply for this Job" box below).) and e‑ConnectYA (R33DA
065192), which focuses on implementing a systematic program to identify overdose, suicide and behavioral health risk, and refer and link recently incarcerated young adults with treatment. Both projects fall under the NIDA‑funded JCOIN initiative, which is consortium‑focused on increasing access to evidence‑based treatments for individuals with opioid use disorder who are within the justice system. The successful candidate will collaborate with leading researchers, contribute to cutting‑edge projects, and have opportunities for publication, mentorship, grant writing, and contributions to the design and development of future studies within this consortium.

Beyond JCOIN activities, integration into other projects will be based on the fellow's interests and training needs. There are currently multiple NIH‑funded studies, including clinical trials for interventions to improve identification of behavioral health risk, including suicide, in justice‑involved youth and increase referral and initiation of treatment and care. There are also both qualitative and quantitative data from multiple NIH‑funded studies focused on identification and prevention of health and behavioral health problems and linkage to treatment for justice‑involved youth and young adults available for secondary analysis.

• Conduct advanced grant‑funded research (e.g., ensure fidelity of intervention implementation and stakeholder/community partner engagement, develop data reports, supervise intervention implementation, collaborate with a project coordinator on project‑related tasks, assist in training and supervising data collection staff, assist with dissemination of research results)
• Work with project director on study start‑up and development activities related to adapting e‑Connect for a new young adult population.
• Oversee systematic literature reviews of epidemiologic and treatment studies on topics relevant to the current study (opioid and co‑occurring drug use, court participants, linkage to treatment).
• Serve as primary author or co‑author for journal articles and chapters for publication.
• Write or assist with writing grant progress reports and new grant applications.
• Attend professional conferences for continuing education and to present study results.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams of researchers: epidemiologists, addiction psychiatrists/psychologists, lawyers, biostatisticians, and public health experts. Foster a collaborative and inclusive research environment.
• Provide mentorship and guidance to junior researchers, graduate students, and interns working on the project.

• A Ph.D. in psychology, public health, criminology, or a related field (degree must be attained by the position start date).
• At least 1 year of experience working as part of a multidisciplinary research team.
• Demonstrated record of publications
• At least 1 year of training in human subjects' research protocols and ethical conduct of research.

• Prior…