POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE

Duke Careers • Durham, NC

23h • Onsite

About The Position

Duke University School of Medicine is seeking a full-time Postdoctoral Associate to support clinical and translational research focused on the role of the microbiome and host immune responses in critical illness. The research focuses on how the microbiota living on and in our bodies impact immune responses and contribute to acute and longer-term outcomes in sepsis and other critical care syndromes. The successful postdoctoral candidate will play a central role in the ongoing Microbiome and Immune Correlates of Outcomes in the Intensive Care Unit (MICRO-ICU) study, a prospective longitudinal study enrolling a heterogeneous cohort of critically ill patients (sepsis and non-septic critically ill patients including perioperative liver transplantation candidates) and healthy controls. This position is ideal for a highly organized, motivated individual who is interested in gaining experience in clinical and translational research. The majority of the role involves hands-on clinical research operations: screening and obtaining informed consent; collecting and processing biospecimens; and assisting with clinical data entry. Communication with patients, families, and clinical care teams is central to many of these activities, requiring the ability to build trust quickly, explain the purpose and value of research clearly, and navigate sensitive conversations with compassion. The role also offers opportunities to contribute to data analysis, manuscripts, presentations at local and national conferences, and grant applications.

Requirements

• PhD, MD, DO, PharmD, DVM, or equivalent doctoral degree in a relevant field, including but not limited to medicine, public health/epidemiology, biomedical sciences, nursing, pharmacy, microbiology, immunology or a related discipline.
• Strong interest in clinical or translational research.
• Willingness to participate directly in patient-facing research activities, including screening, consent, and biospecimen collection from critically ill patients in accordance with institutional biosafety, infection prevention, and human subjects research policies.
• Strong interpersonal skills and comfort initiating conversations with patients and families in high-acuity, emotionally charged clinical settings.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Comfort working in a hospital, operating room, and ICU environment.
• Ability to work independently while also collaborating effectively with a multidisciplinary team.
• Ability to manage multiple study tasks, time-sensitive sample collections, and detailed documentation.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience with human subjects research, clinical research coordination, or patient-facing research.
• Experience with electronic medical records, clinical data abstraction, biospecimen collection and/or tracking.
• Prior experience with infectious disease, microbiome, immunology, or transplant research.
• Interest in contributing to analysis or scientific writing, including abstracts, manuscripts, and grant applications.
• Familiarity with statistical analysis in R, GraphPad Prism, or similar platforms.

Responsibilities

• Screening ICU patients for study eligibility using the EPIC electronic medical record and communication with clinical teams.
• Approaching patients and/or legally authorized representatives for study consent.
• Coordinating and performing longitudinal biospecimen collection, including blood, rectal swabs, oral swabs, urine, stool when available, and other protocol-specified samples.
• Performing light sample processing, labeling, documentation, storage, and handoff of human biospecimens for downstream microbiome, immune, biomarker, and metabolomic assays.
• Maintaining accurate study documentation, including REDCap/clinical databases, and assisting with clinical data abstraction from the EPIC electronic medical record.
• Supporting protocol updates, SOP development, and other research operations as needed.
• Participating in laboratory meetings and study team meetings.
• Contributing to data summaries, basic statistical analyses, abstracts, presentations at local/national conferences, manuscripts, and grant-related materials, depending on experience and interest.

Benefits

• Duke is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy related conditions), sexual orientation or military status.
• Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

What This Job Offers

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