Postdoctoral Fellow Biostatistics and Health Data Science

Indiana University; Indiana; On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Indiana University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow in Biostatistics and Health Data Science at the IU School of Medicine, Indianapolis.

The role focuses on advancing research at the intersection of artificial intelligence for healthcare, multimodal data analysis (EHRs, imaging, omics), and causal AI, collaborating with computer scientists, clinicians, and public health researchers to create deployable, trustworthy methods.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. (by start date) in Computer Science, Biomedical Informatics, Health Data Science, Biostatistics, or a closely related area.
• Strong ML/deep learning foundation plus expertise in at least one of: multimodal learning, time-series modeling, or NLP.
• Demonstrated working experience with healthcare data (e.g., EHR, clinical text, imaging, omics).
• Proficiency in Python and ML tooling (e.g., PyTorch, scikit-learn), version control (Git), and experiment tracking (Weights & Biases).
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, and ability to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead original research in multimodal and causal AI for health; design, implement, and rigorously evaluate algorithms and full pipelines.
• Build reproducible research pipelines and maintain reliable experiment codebases (prefer Python).
• Apply causal inference and discovery frameworks to clinical questions.
• Translate proposed methods and frameworks into real-world clinical workflows.
• Contribute to grant proposals and research reports.

Skills

ML foundations

Multimodal learning

Time-series modeling

NLP

Python

PyTorch

Git

Experiment tracking

Education

PhD in Computer Science/Biostatistics/Health Data Science

Tools

PyTorch

scikit-learn

Weights & Biases

Git

Job description

Postdoctoral Fellow Biostatistics and Health Data Science

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, containing policy statements, crime and fire statistics for all Indiana University campuses, is available online . You may also request a physical copy by emailing IU Public Safety at [e-mail]

Title Postdoctoral Fellow Biostatistics and Health Data Science

Specific Title

Appointment Type

Appointment Type Postdoctoral Fellow

Department

Campus

Campus IU School of Medicine Indianapolis

Position Summary

Postdoctoral Researcher to advance research at the intersection of artificial intelligence for healthcare, multimodal data analysis (EHRs, medical imaging, omics, physiological signals, clinical notes), and causal AI (causal inference, discovery, counterfactual reasoning). The successful candidate will collaborate with an interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, biomedical informaticians, clinicians, and public health researchers to develop deployable, trustworthy methods that improve patient outcomes and health system operations.
Key responsibilities include:

• Lead original research in multimodal and causal AI for health; design, implement, and rigorously evaluate algorithms and full pipelines.
• Build reproducible research pipelines and maintain reliable experiment codebases (prefer Python).
• Apply causal inference and discovery frameworks to clinical questions.
• Translate proposed methods and frameworks into real-world clinical workflows.
• Contribute to grant proposals and research reports.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a fast growing BHDS Department with 36 faculty members and more than 50 professional staff. We are dedicated to excellence in biostatistical, health data science, and informatics research and education. We have an extensive portfolio of research program in related areas. Our NIH funding as principal investigators and co-investigators has been ranked among the top in the nation. The Department currently has an ongoing PhD program in Biostatistics, MS program in Biostatistics, and BS program in Health Data Science.
We have established strong collaborations with both clinical and basic science research departments and divisions and health systems including IU Health and Eskenazi Hospitals as well as strong partnerships with major research institutes and centers including Regenstrief Institute, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Indiana Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), Indiana University Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Indiana Institute of Biomedical Research, and Indiana Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Additional details about the Department and the PhD program are available on our web page: https://medicine.iu.edu/biostatistics.
The Indianapolis Campus is the focal point of health professions education at Indiana University, and the School of Medicine is the country’s second largest allopathic medical school. Indianapolis consistently ranks high nationally on many of the "best places to live" lists and has an economy that is growing in the life sciences arena. In addition, it has always been one of the cities with the lowest cost of living. Carmel, Indy’s northern neighbor, was recently named as the best mid-sized city in the country.
IUSM is committed to being a welcoming campus community and we seek candidates whose research, teaching, and community engagement efforts contribute to robust learning and working environments for all students, staff, and faculty. We invite individuals who will join us in our mission to improve health equity and well-being for all throughout the state of Indiana.
Indianapolis is the capital and most populous city in the State of Indiana. It is growing economically thanks to a strong corporate base anchored by the life sciences. Indiana is home to one of the largest concentrations of health sciences companies in the nation. Indianapolis has a sophisticated blend of charm and culture with a wonderful balance of business and leisure. The growing residential base is supported by rich amenities and quality of life – the city possesses a variety of professional sports, arts venues and outdoor recreation areas. Residents of this dynamic city, and surrounding suburbs, enjoy leading educational systems and top-ranked universities, paired with a diverse population. Indianapolis International Airport is a top-ranked international airport, being named "Best Airport in North America" by Airports Council International for many years. For additional information on life in Indy: https://faculty.medicine.iu.edu/relocation.
The search will continue until the positions are filled.

Basic Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. (by start date) in Computer Science, Biomedical Informatics, Health Data Science, Biostatistics, or a closely related area.
• Strong ML/deep learning foundation plus expertise in at least one of: multimodal learning, time-series modeling, or NLP .
• Demonstrated working experience with healthcare data (e.g., EHR , clinical text, imaging, omics).
• Proficiency in Python and ML tooling (e.g., PyTorch, scikit-learn), version control (Git), and experiment tracking (e.g., Weights & Biases).
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, and ability to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams.

Department Contact for Questions

Additional Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with LLMs/foundation models (e.g., clinical NLP , retrieval-augmented generation, instruction tuning) and multimodal transformers.
• Solid understanding of causal methods (e.g., propensity scores, IPW , matching) and/or causal discovery.
• Familiarity with data engineering and MLOps (e.g., SQL , Spark, Airflow, Docker, Kubernetes).
• Knowledge of responsible/ethical AI for health: fairness/equity, interpretability, robustness, privacy (e.g., differential privacy, federated learning).
• Track record of first-author publications in relevant venues and collaborative open-source contributions.

Special Instructions