Postdoctoral Fellow Opportunity — Text Intelligence and Clinical Analytics (TICA) Lab
The TICA (Text Intelligence for Clinical Action) Lab, part of the Department of Biomedical Data Science and Informatics at UPIBI, is directed by Dr. Priya Desai, Associate Professor of Informatics and Chief Data Innovation Officer. The lab focuses on developing natural language processing (NLP) technologies that support clinical and translational research by uncovering actionable insights from unstructured health data.
Our mission is to build advanced computational methods that translate clinical text into meaningful information for improving care delivery, decision-making, and health outcomes.
Job Summary
The TICA Lab is currently recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to lead NLP-focused research. The successful candidate will design and implement innovative machine learning and natural language processing solutions to extract key variables and generate insights from a wide range of clinical text sources—such as physician notes, discharge summaries, and diagnostic narratives.
Projects may span multiple clinical domains, including oncology, pathology, neurology, infectious disease, mental health, and palliative care. The fellow will work closely with research staff, faculty collaborators, and clinical informatics teams across UPIBI.
Core Duties & Responsibilities
- Collaborate with faculty, students, and clinical informatics staff on NLP research initiatives
- Participate in regular lab meetings, cross-institutional research seminars, and collaborative sessions
- Contribute to academic publications and present findings at relevant conferences
- Support grant development efforts for national and foundation-level funding opportunities
Qualifications & Skills
Applicants should hold a Ph.D. in computer science, biomedical informatics, computational linguistics, or a related discipline. Required skills include strong proficiency in Python or Java, experience with NLP and machine learning techniques, and familiarity with ontologies and knowledge representation. Experience with deep learning is a plus.
Candidates should have at least one first-author publication in a peer-reviewed journal. This role includes dedicated mentorship and structured support for those pursuing a career development award (e.g., NIH K series). The appointment is for two years with potential for extension.
Interested applicants should send a cover letter and CV to Dr. Priya Desai at priyadesai@upibi.org.