Postdoctoral Trainee in Pain and SUDs

Training Program

The Stanford Division of Pain Medicine T32 Training Program in Pain and Substance Use Disorders is intended to develop postdoctoral trainees’ skills to become independent investigators in the fields of pain, substance abuse disorders, and their intersection. The training program (1-3 years) incorporates required and elective coursework, mentored research experiences, an individual integrated research project, seminars, and exposure to professional development skills, including grant proposal and manuscript writing. The aim of this program is to develop the next generation of academic leaders in pain and substance abuse disorder to ultimately can better characterize these important conditions and translate discoveries into safe and effective treatments. This program is supported by an NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) T32 training grant. Our program has successfully trained and helped transition multiple postdoctoral fellows into independent research careers. We are currently accepting applications for trainees interested in applying data science principles and techniques to biomedical datasets. Applicants should be comfortable using coding skills such as SQL, R, and Python to extract data from databases, clean it, and analyze it; as well as have theoretical skills including algorithm implementation/development and data visualization. Experience and interests include designing machine learning pipelines, building web applications/tools, and creating/maintaining visualization dashboards. An example project may involve all skillsets by requiring data extraction, dataset cleaning, implementing a machine learning algorithm (or other statistics), converting the trained algorithm into a useful tool (web application or dashboard), and generating visualizations. Our T32 program also provides tuition support to obtain Stanford Masters in Epidemiology and Clinical Research for those who would benefit from additional training in clinical research.

Our training program achieves the following specific objectives:

• Recruit and train researchers from diverse academic backgrounds and under-represented populations.
• Obtain broad knowledge about the fields of pain and SUD neurobiology.
• Acquire depth and expertise in an area of specialization within a field of pain and SUD.
• Develop proficiency in research methodology and skills.
• Develop skills to identify key research questions and formulate testable hypotheses.
• Design and execute studies that test those hypotheses.
• Present findings at national conferences.
• Develop proficiency in manuscript writing and publishing.
• Become skilled in writing funded grant applications.
• Develop proficiency in team science concepts and the conduct of collaborative research.
• Gain proficiency in the responsible conduct of research.
• Work with primary mentors and co-mentors to develop challenging yet realistic career plans.

We offer training in the following disciplines:

• Molecular and cellular biology
• Optogenetics
• Electrophysiology
• Glia
• “Omics” (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics)
• Neuroimaging
• Cognitive neurosciences
• Psychology
• Clinical trials
• Pharmacology
• Outcomes
• Health Policy and Economics

Requirements: To be appointed to a NRSA research training grant like our T32, an individual must:

• be a citizen, a non-citizen national of the United States or must have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence (i.e., in possession of a current, valid Alien Registration Receipt Card I-551, or must be in possession of other legal verification of such status); individuals on temporary or student visas are not eligible
• not be supported by any other NRSA grant at the time of the T32 appointment Trainees must have received, as of the beginning date of the appointment, an MD/PhD, MD or PhD or comparable doctoral degree from an accredited domestic or foreign institution. Written certification by an authorized official of the degree-granting institution that all degree requirements have been met, prior to the date training is to begin, is acceptable. The expected base pay for this position is the Stanford University required minimum for all postdoctoral scholars appointed through the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. The FY25 minimum is $73,800. We especially encourage applications from members of under-represented minority groups. Stanford is a non-discriminatory/affirmative action equal opportunity employer.

Selection for this position will be based solely on merit, with no discrimination for non-merit reasons such as race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, marital status, disability, age, or membership or non-membership in an employee organization. The NIH encourages the application and nomination of qualified women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities.