Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Department of Neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania seek candidates for an Assistant Professor position in the non-tenure research track. Expertise is required in the specific area of molecular and cancer biology, or closely related fields with a strong record in advanced molecular and cell biology methods, multi-omic profiling, and next-generation sequencing.

The role requires demonstrated expertise in development and application of patient-derived in vitro and in vivo disease tissue culture models for preclinical research and clinical precision medicine applications. Applicants must have a Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. degree.

We are seeking applicants that bring experience building and leading biobanking programs, overseeing biospecimen governance and generating high-quality molecular data, with experience working with archived and liquid biopsy specimens. Competence in multi-omic data integration, large-scale data curation, and adherence to modern data governance and reproducibility standards are also essential. This position further requires demonstrated leadership in cross-departmental and cross-institutional research collaborations, success securing extramural funding, and a strong record of mentoring and directing interdisciplinary laboratory teams.

Research or scholarship responsibilities may include advancing a personalized tumor-modeling program using patient-derived organoids, cell lines, and xenografts to support functional precision medicine, drug testing, and mechanistic discovery. The role may involve supervising and expanding a pediatric brain tumor biobank; developing precision-medicine screening systems; and guiding biospecimen collection, processing, and quality-assurance workflows while ensuring regulatory and ethical compliance. Responsibilities also include leading a multi-investigator research environment, integrating multi-omics and imaging datasets for biomarker discovery, and driving large-scale, cross-institutional biobanking, data-generation and analysis initiatives.

Additional duties may involve contributing to high-impact publications and grant proposals and partnering with clinical teams to translate laboratory findings into therapeutic insights.

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics), citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any class protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.