Postdoctoral Research Associate - BME (Yao)

University of Illinois Chicago • Chicago, IL

2d • Onsite

About The Position

The Postdoctoral Research Associate will conduct interdisciplinary research at the interface of artificial intelligence, biomedical imaging, and ophthalmology. The work focuses on developing and validating machine-learning and deep-learning approaches using multimodal OCT/OCTA imaging and clinical data to predict diabetic retinopathy progression and diabetic macular edema development. The role includes analyzing retinal imaging and clinical datasets, developing quantitative OCTA analysis methods and models, collaborating with clinical and research teams, and preparing research outputs. The position is in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.

Requirements

• PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Sciences, or a closely related field.

Nice To Haves

• Research experience in biomedical image processing, medical imaging, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, or related quantitative methods.
• Proficiency in scientific programming and data analysis using Python, MATLAB, or equivalent.
• Experience with machine-learning or deep-learning frameworks and quantitative model evaluation.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and scientific communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in an interdisciplinary research environment involving engineers, data scientists, and clinical investigators.
• Experience with ophthalmic imaging, OCT/OCTA, retinal image analysis, vision transformers, or multimodal medical imaging.
• Evidence of research productivity, including peer-reviewed publications and/or scientific conference presentations.

Responsibilities

• Lead curation, quality control, processing, and analysis of multimodal retinal imaging and clinical datasets, including OCT and OCTA data from patients with diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema.
• Perform quantitative retinal vascular analysis using established OCTA artery-vein (OCTA-AV) image-processing and feature-extraction methods, and further develop and maintain the associated analysis toolbox.
• Design, implement, train, and validate machine-learning and deep-learning models to predict diabetic retinopathy progression and diabetic macular edema development using multimodal imaging and clinical data.
• Conduct statistical analyses, feature selection, model benchmarking, cross-validation, and external validation with clinical and international research collaborators.
• Develop and evaluate multimodal deep-learning approaches integrating OCT, OCTA, OCTA-AV maps, and clinical variables, including ablation studies to assess the contribution of individual imaging modalities and clinical factors.
• Prepare research manuscripts, conference abstracts and presentations, progress reports, and research data documentation, and contribute to project-related grant applications.
• Collaborate with faculty, clinicians, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers in biomedical imaging, ophthalmology, and artificial intelligence research; assist with mentoring junior trainees as appropriate.
• Manage research data appropriately and comply with institutional requirements, including de-identification, IRB requirements, and secure handling of clinical research data.
• Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned.

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Life insurance
• Retirement plan
• Paid time off
• Tuition waivers for employees and dependents

What This Job Offers

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