Post Doctoral Research Fellow

Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) and

the Department of Surgery at Hennepin Healthcare

The Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, invites applications for a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow to join our Neurosurgery Restorative Neurotrauma Lab research team.

The Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to join the Neurosurgery Restorative Neurotrauma Lab at HCMC. The fellow will support translational spinal cord injury (SCI) research focused on restoring sexual function and improving quality of life through non-invasive vibratory genital nerve stimulation (vGNS), psychophysiology protocols, and objective physiologic measurement.

The Postdoctoral Research Fellow will be an integral part of a multidisciplinary research team and will help design, implement, and analyze human-subjects studies involving women with SCI, including in-clinic psychogenic arousal protocols, laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI), ECG/heart-rate variability (HRV), wearable and device-log data, REDCap surveys, and validated patient-reported outcomes. Responsibilities include protocol development, IRB/regulatory support, participant-facing study operations, database and data pipeline management, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, conference presentations, and support for grant applications and funder reports.

This is a 50/50 hybrid role requiring a minimum of 50% onsite presence in downtown Minneapolis, MN.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Under the direction of the Principal Investigators, work closely with HCMC/HHRI investigators to refine clinical research questions, outcome measures, and data elements for SCI sexual health and neuromodulation studies. (5%)
• Participate in the design, implementation, and evaluation of human-subjects research protocols, including IRB materials, ClinicalTrials.gov updates, study manuals, and standard operating procedures. (10%)
• Coordinate participant-facing study activities, including recruitment support, screening, informed consent, scheduling, privacy-centered participant communication, and retention activities. (10%)
• Conduct or support in-clinic psychophysiology/arousal protocol sessions using vGNS, LSCI, ECG/HRV, blood pressure, lubrication testing, questionnaires, and safety monitoring procedures. (20%)
• Train participants on home-use vGNS and wearable device procedures; monitor weekly check-ins, REDCap surveys, device adherence, technical issues, and adverse events. (10%)
• Develop and maintain software, scripts, and analysis workflows for LSCI, ECG/HRV, wearable sensor, device-log, and patient-reported outcome data. (15%)
• Build and maintain datasets, REDCap instruments, data dictionaries, data infrastructure, and data quality assurance processes. (10%)
• Conduct statistical analyses, create visualizations, interpret results, and document reproducible analysis methods. (10%)
• Prepare and present data for lab meetings, collaborators, community partners, conferences, and funder updates. (5%)
• Author, co-author, and otherwise collaborate on reports, conference papers, peer-reviewed manuscripts, and open-access/data-sharing materials. (5%)
• Contribute to grant applications, progress reports, regulatory renewals, and future trial planning.
• Work effectively within multidisciplinary teams and provide training or mentoring to less experienced staff, students, and research assistants as assigned.

NON-ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Collaborate with researchers on related spinal cord injury, neurotrauma, sexual health, neuromodulation, and rehabilitation projects; participate in lab meetings, community engagement, and other duties as assigned.

EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS:

Education/Experience:

Applicants with any doctoral level degree will be considered, but an ideal candidate would have a degree in neuroscience, biomedical engineering, rehabilitation science, physiology, psychology, sexual health/medicine, public health, epidemiology, biostatistics, health informatics, data science, or a related field plus 2+ years of applicable research experience.

The ideal candidate would have a strong research background and previous experience in one or more of the following areas: clinical or translational SCI research, human subjects research, sexual health research, autonomic physiology, neuromodulation or device-based interventions, psychophysiology, biomedical signal processing, biostatistics, or qualitative/mixed methods research.

Skill, Knowledge & Ability (SKA):

Requires interaction with a diverse population and sensitive, trauma-informed communication with research participants. Work effectively within multidisciplinary teams and collaborate with researchers, clinicians, engineers, community partners, and people with lived experience on SCI and neurotrauma research.

Minimum qualifications:

• Experience conducting clinical or translational research and interpreting complex, multi-dimensional data.
• A doctoral degree in a relevant field with evidence of scholarly productivity, such as peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, or presentations.
• Strong programming and/or data analysis skills. MATLAB, Python, R, or equivalent statistical/scripting experience is essential.
• Experience with data management, including REDCap or comparable systems, cleaning raw data files, preparing datasets for analysis, and performing quality assurance.
• Knowledge of research design, human subjects protections, informed consent, confidentiality, and IRB/GCP-compliant study procedures.
• Experience conducting statistical analyses and drafting methods/results sections for manuscripts, abstracts, reports, or grant applications.
• Strong writing, presentation, and communication skills, including the ability to communicate respectfully about sensitive sexual health topics.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and collaborative project/documentation tools.
• Display high standards of attendance, punctuality, confidentiality, participant privacy, and effective time management.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with REDCap database building, survey deployment, reporting, and data exports.
• Prior work in neuroscience, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, neurotrauma, rehabilitation, pelvic health, sexual function, or neurophysiology research.
• Prior experience with invasive or noninvasive neuromodulation, vibratory stimulation, or other device-based interventions.
• Signal processing, biomedical engineering, or psychophysiology background.
• Experience with MATLAB, Python, R, LabChart, LabVIEW, or similar platforms; experience with wearable sensors, ECG/HRV, force/temperature/device logs, or accelerometry would be helpful.
• Experience with LSCI/optical imaging, vascular or autonomic physiology, genital/pelvic hemodynamics, or related physiologic outcome measures is ideal.
• Experience with human participant visits, sensitive clinical research protocols, adverse event monitoring, and privacy-preserving procedures.
• Experience with patient-reported outcome measures, qualitative interviews, sexual health questionnaires, or community-engaged research.
• Experience working in a healthcare-related setting and collaborating with clinicians, coordinators, engineers, and study participants.
• Experience preparing manuscripts, conference abstracts, grant applications, funder reports, or data-sharing materials.
• Advanced training/certification in human subjects research, GCP, ISNCSCI examination, clinical research coordination, or related methods.

This position will be compensated based on NIH guidelines for post-doctoral roles.

Questions about this position or requests for more detailed information can be directed to Dr. David Darrow at darro015@umn.edu

HHRI is an Equal Opportunity Employer