Faculty Career Scientist Position in ENT Focused AI Research

Mayo Clinic • Rochester, MN

29d • Onsite

About The Position

Mayo Clinic's Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery is seeking a Career Scientist for a tenure-track-equivalent position in Rochester, Minnesota. This role is for a Ph.D. investigator with expertise in computational, quantitative, engineering, or data-enabled disciplines to lead an independent research program focused on biomedical data science, computational biology, artificial intelligence, or machine learning applied to cancer and surgical care. The successful candidate will join a collaborative, disease-focused translational research environment, integrating basic discovery, AI, clinical investigation, population science, and surgical practice in head and neck oncology. The research should utilize advanced computational approaches to analyze complex, multimodal datasets, generating clinically actionable insights for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and surgical decision-making. This position aligns with Mayo Clinic's Research Strategic Transformation priorities and Bold. Forward. vision, aiming to translate unique clinical, molecular, imaging, pathology, biospecimen, outcomes, and real-world data into new knowledge, validated tools, and implementation-ready approaches for head and neck diseases and cancer. A key opportunity is leveraging Mayo Clinic Platform and its ecosystem for real-world data, analytic tools, data science workspaces, and digital solution development to advance discovery, validation, and implementation. The candidate will collaborate with department, AI, informatics, quantitative sciences, and Platform partners to develop scalable, reusable data-enabled discovery approaches. This includes using Platform resources for cohort discovery, multimodal phenotyping, model development and validation, real-world evidence generation, clinical trial feasibility, digital biomarker development, and translating predictive models into clinical workflows. The work must adhere to responsible AI principles, emphasizing methodological rigor, transparency, data governance, bias mitigation, reproducibility, and close clinician partnerships. The successful candidate will be an emerging or established leader in biomedical data science with demonstrated expertise in computational, quantitative, or data-enabled disciplines and a track record of applying rigorous methods to complex biomedical, healthcare, or research datasets. Research may involve high-dimensional clinical, molecular, imaging, pathology, surgical, biospecimen-linked, and outcomes data for head and neck cancer and otolaryngology, with a focus on translation. Specific areas include developing and applying AI, machine learning, generative AI, computer vision, natural language processing, multimodal foundation models, multi-omic integration, digital pathology, radiomics, predictive modeling, and advanced statistical learning. The role involves creating clinically meaningful tools for diagnosis, prognosis, risk stratification, treatment response modeling, surgical planning, surveillance, and clinical trial development. Advancing AI-enabled surgical practice through multimodal data analysis is a key expectation. Collaboration with surgeon-scientists, clinician investigators, data scientists, biostatisticians, AI and informatics experts, and Mayo Clinic Platform teams is crucial for designing translational studies and scalable analytic workflows. The candidate is expected to secure extramural funding as a principal investigator, contribute to team science, programmatic funding, industry collaborations, and cross-disciplinary initiatives. High-impact publications, mentoring trainees and junior faculty, contributing to scientific committees, and providing educational leadership are also expected. The Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery offers a unique research environment across pediatric and adult care, acute and chronic diseases, and medical and surgical management. Departmental priorities in head and neck cancer include advanced diagnostics, early detection, prognostic tools, individualized treatment, novel therapeutics, radiomics, biomarker discovery, genomic and molecular profiling, digital pathology, and digital health platforms. Opportunities exist for collaboration on tumor microenvironments, methylation markers, circulating tumor DNA, machine learning for histology, imaging, surgical outcomes, and precision oncology. The candidate will contribute to building data science, statistical programming, and AI-enabled research capacity at the intersection of basic science, clinical care, and surgical innovation. Mayo Clinic, a top-ranked institution, offers a supportive environment with state-of-the-art facilities, integrated health records, and collaboration opportunities. The position includes competitive compensation, substantial institutional and departmental support for salary, personnel, equipment, and travel, along with a competitive startup package. Faculty benefits include intramural funding for research and innovation, and a comprehensive benefits package.

Requirements

• Ph.D. or equivalent degree in biomedical data science, computational biology, biostatistics, bioinformatics, computer science, quantitative medicine, engineering, applied mathematics, or a related quantitative discipline.
• Demonstrated scientific productivity.
• Clear potential for sustained independent extramural funding.
• Commitment to collaborative translational research in cancer, surgery, and data-enabled clinical discovery.
• Relevant expertise may include artificial intelligence and machine learning, multimodal data integration, real-world data, digital pathology, imaging analytics, multi-omics, predictive modeling, clinical decision support, digital biomarker development, or other computational and quantitative approaches.
• Ability to translate expertise into a collaborative research program in head and neck disease and cancer.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in interdisciplinary research teams.
• Experience translating discoveries into clinically meaningful applications.
• Prior research experience in head and neck oncology, otolaryngology, cancer, or surgical care.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead an independent, externally funded research program focused on biomedical data science, computational biology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, or related quantitative disciplines applied to cancer and surgical care.
• Leverage advanced computational and analytical approaches to interrogate complex, multimodal datasets and generate clinically actionable insights.
• Translate Mayo's unique clinical, molecular, imaging, pathology, biospecimen, outcomes, and real-world data resources into new knowledge, validated tools, and implementation-ready approaches.
• Develop scalable, reusable approaches for data-enabled discovery using Mayo Clinic Platform and related enterprise capabilities.
• Develop and apply artificial intelligence, machine learning, generative AI, computer vision, natural language processing, multimodal foundation models, multi-omic integration, digital pathology, radiomics, predictive modeling, and advanced statistical learning approaches.
• Create clinically meaningful tools and analytical frameworks that support diagnosis, prognosis, risk stratification, treatment response modeling, surgical planning, longitudinal surveillance, and clinical trial development.
• Advance AI-enabled surgical practice by using multimodal data to improve decision-making and patient outcomes.
• Partner closely with surgeon-scientists, clinician investigators, leaders, data scientists, biostatisticians, AI and informatics experts, and Mayo Clinic Platform teams.
• Design rigorous translational studies and scalable analytic workflows.
• Develop and sustain a portfolio of extramural funding as principal investigator.
• Contribute to large-scale team science, programmatic funding, industry collaborations, and cross-disciplinary initiatives.
• Produce high-impact publications.
• Mentor trainees and junior faculty.
• Contribute to national scientific committees and collaborative networks.
• Provide educational leadership within Mayo Clinic and the broader scientific community.
• Contribute to building data science, statistical programming, and AI-enabled research capacity.
• Establish a sustainable portfolio of federal, foundation, industry, and other extramural funding.
• Support a substantial and increasing share of salary and research program through external funding.

Benefits

• Generous startup package.
• Committed institutional and departmental support during an initial multi-year period for personnel, equipment, data and computational resources, and other infrastructure.
• Intramural funding opportunities for research and innovation.
• Outstanding, comprehensive benefits package.
• Highly competitive compensation package with substantial long-term institutional and departmental support for salary, personnel, equipment, and travel.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree