Postdoctoral Research Associate

About the Role

Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate position. The successful candidate will join a collaborative, multidisciplinary team of researchers, clinicians, and technical specialists working at the intersection of medicine, science, and technology to develop and evaluate new approaches to health research and healthcare delivery. The fellowship offers an opportunity to contribute to innovative research and help translate emerging ideas into practical solutions that address evolving healthcare needs and advance more effective and equitable care.

Position Summary

The Postdoctoral Research Associate will contribute to research exploring how clinical, nutritional, environmental, and social factors influence health outcomes in rural and underserved populations. The fellowship combines participant-based research and systematic data collection with quantitative analysis and applied healthcare innovation. The fellow will collaborate with interdisciplinary teams across clinical medicine, public health, nutrition, environmental health, and data science to generate evidence that informs strategies to improve health outcomes and advance equitable healthcare delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate participant recruitment, eligibility screening, informed consent, scheduling, and follow-up in accordance with approved research protocols.
• Conduct participant interviews, questionnaires, dietary assessments, and standardized health measurements within the scope of appropriate training and approved study procedures.
• Coordinate biological and environmental sample collection, processing, storage, and transport with appropriately trained clinical and laboratory personnel, maintaining accurate sample tracking and documentation.
• Develop and implement standardized data collection procedures, study materials, and research documentation to support consistent collection across research settings.
• Maintain secure research databases and perform data entry, verification, cleaning, and quality checks to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and confidentiality of study data.
• Integrate clinical records, participant assessments, laboratory results, and other research data into datasets suitable for statistical analysis.
• Conduct descriptive and, where appropriate, multivariable statistical analyses to examine associations between health outcomes and relevant clinical, nutritional, environmental, and social factors.
• Develop reproducible analysis workflows and prepare tables, figures, and summaries to support interpretation of findings and preparation of manuscripts and research reports.
• Collaborate with faculty, clinicians, data scientists, and public health partners.
• Participate in needs assessments, feasibility studies, and evaluations of research implementation.
• Produce manuscripts, conference submissions, and scientific dissemination outputs.
• Assist with grant writing, ethics applications, and project protocol development.
• Engage with community and health system stakeholders to support research relevance, participant engagement, and dissemination of findings.

Qualifications & Tech Stack

• Completed PhD, MD, or equivalent doctoral degree in medicine, public health, epidemiology, nutrition, environmental health, biomedical sciences, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience in human-participant, clinical, community-based, or population health research.
• Experience with systematic data collection, research documentation, and data management.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing clinical, population health, or epidemiological data, including descriptive statistics and regression analysis.
• Proficiency in at least one statistical software package or programming language, such as R, Python, SAS, Stata, or SPSS.
• Interest in rural health, health disparities, or the clinical, nutritional, environmental, and social determinants of health.
• Strong analytical, organizational, interpersonal, and scientific communication skills, including the ability to interpret statistical findings and present results clearly.
• Ability to work collaboratively with interdisciplinary teams and communicate effectively with research participants and community partners.
• Understanding of research ethics, participant confidentiality, and adherence to approved study protocols.
• Experience with dietary assessment, standardized health measurements, or biospecimen workflows is desirable.
• Familiarity with electronic data capture systems is desirable.