Post Doc Res Assoc

Details

Open Date 09/01/2026

Requisition Number PRN
46086B

Job Title Post Doc Res Assoc

Working Title Post Doc Res Assoc

Career Progression Track A00

Track Level

FLSA Code Administrative

Patient Sensitive Job Code? No

Standard Hours per Week 40

Full Time or Part Time? Full Time

Shift Day

Work Schedule Summary

VP Area President

Department 01938 - HCI Mary Playdon Research Prog

Location Campus

City Salt Lake City, UT

Type of Recruitment External Posting

Pay Rate Range 63,480

Close Date 12/01/2026

Priority Review Date (Note - Posting may close at any time)

The Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology at the University of Utah, in partnership with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, is seeking a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to join the lab of Dr. Mary Playdon. This position is funded by NIH grants from the National Cancer Institute (1R01CA
313949; 1R21CA
299749), focused on (1) translating a validated blood-based dietary biomarker into clinical practice for colorectal cancer prevention, and (2) investigating biomarkers of meal timing behaviors in relation to cancer risk.

The successful candidate will lead epidemiologic and translational analyses that integrate nutritional metabolomics, multiplex inflammatory protein (inflammotype) profiling, dietary intake, electronic medical record data, and adenoma outcomes across two high-volume academic medical centers (University of Utah and The Ohio State University), and integrating metabolomic data from multiple cohort studies in collaboration with investigators at the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute to investigate meal timing and cancer, among other research opportunities.

The University of Utah is an affirmative action/Equal Opportunity employer and encourages applications from individuals of all backgrounds.

For more information about Dr. Playdon’s research, visit her faculty profile https://profiles.faculty.utah.edu/u6017378
.
Details about the NIH
-funded project (1R01CA
313949) can be found on NIH RePORTER:
https://reporter.nih.gov
.
Huntsman Cancer Institute is committed to cancer prevention, care, and survivorship for all communities within the area we serve, which includes Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, with impact worldwide.

In your cover letter or during your interview process, we invite you to share how your professional experiences have prepared you to serve as a member of our team as we work to reduce the cancer burden experienced by all people and communities. This may include description of your prior experiences related to research, prevention, clinical care, community engagement/outreach, training, administration, or other areas relevant to Huntsman Cancer Institute’s mission and this position.

• Conduct epidemiologic analyses of epidemiologic and clinical trial data.

• Work with metabolomics, proteomics, and dietary data.

• Support the development of clinical trial intervention materials, including group education programming.

• Implement natural language processing pipelines.

• Collaborate with partners at the University of Utah and The Ohio State University and with metabolomics, biostatistics, and pathology cores.

• Prepare manuscripts for publication and present findings at scientific conferences.

• Assist in grant writing and progress reporting to NIH .

• Mentor junior researchers and contribute to lab meetings and collaborative discussions.

• Ensure compliance with IRB protocols and data security standards.

Questions about this position should be directed to Dr. Mary Playdon ydonh.edu.

The University of Utah is the state’s oldest and largest institution of higher education and offers…