Postdoctoral Researcher; Simultaneous fMRI and Deep Brain Stimulation

Company Description

UHN is Canada’s #1 hospital and the world’s #1 publicly funded hospital. With 10 sites and more than 44,000 TeamUHN members, UHN consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, The Michener Institute of Education and West Park Healthcare Centre. As Canada's top research hospital, the scope of biomedical research and complexity of cases at UHN have made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care.

UHN has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in neurosciences, cardiology, transplantation, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. UHN is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto.

UHN’s vision is to build A Healthier World and it’s only because of the talented and dedicated people who work here that we are continually bringing that vision closer to reality.

Union: Non-Union

Number of vacancies: 1

Site: Toronto Western Hospital, 399 Bathurst Street

Department: Research

Reports to: Principal Investigator

Hours: 35 hours per week

Shifts: Day

Status: Temporary Full-time

Closing Date: February 13, 2026

A Postdoctoral Researcher is being sought to support a research program in simultaneous functional MRI (fMRI) and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) at Toronto Western Hospital. This position is based at the Krembil Brain Institute and is supervised by Dr. Alexandre Boutet, MD PhD, Dr. Jurgen Germann, PhD, and Dr. Andres Lozano, MD PhD.

Dr. Alexandre Boutet is a neuroradiologist and early career clinician scientist. He serves as the Slaight Neuroradiology Lead for Clinical Translation at the University Health Network. He focuses on high field fMRI methods for deep brain stimulation, advanced MR techniques for focused ultrasound, and safety frameworks that have enabled spine and brain imaging in patients with implanted DBS devices. He integrates clinical imaging, MR physics, focused ultrasound, and computational approaches to advance image guided neuromodulation.

Dr. Jurgen Germann is a neuroimaging scientist with extensive expertise in neuroimaging analysis.

Dr. Andres Lozano is a world renowned functional neurosurgeon who has several landmark publications in neuromodulation.

This fellowship supports an NIH funded project that will acquire concurrent DBS stimulation with whole brain fMRI at 3T to identify biomarkers of neuromodulation in movement disorders. The goal is to map whole brain activity patterns during stimulation and to establish imaging biomarkers that predict clinical response and optimal stimulation. The role includes collaborations with Movement Disorders Neurology (Dr. Alfonso Fasano) and GE Health Care.

• Design and implement task based and resting state fMRI paradigms for DBS patients.
• Coordinate imaging sessions with neurology and neurosurgery teams.
• Develop preprocessing and analysis workflows for stimulation conditioned BOLD responses.
• Perform network level analyses, including connectivity, graph metrics, and network modeling.

• PhD in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, neuroimaging, medical physics, or a related discipline.
• Strong experience with fMRI methods, neuroimaging pipelines, and statistical modeling.
• Familiarity with DBS, neuromodulation, or intracranial electrophysiology is helpful.
• Interest in translational neuroimaging and mechanistic approaches to movement disorders.

• Work within one of the leading DBS imaging programs internationally.
• Access to 3T MRI, large clinical cohorts, and surgical electrophysiology data.
• Ability to contribute to a landmark first in human imaging methodology.

This position may be eligible for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) exempt work permit under applicable federal immigration regulations.

In addition to working alongside some of the most talented and inspiring healthcare professionals in the world, UHN offers a wide range of benefits, programs and perks. It is the comprehensiveness of these offerings that makes…