NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship - Virtual Reality and Behavioral Science

The Social and Behavioral Research Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), NIH is seeking applications for a postdoctoral position. This position is situated within the Immersive Virtual Environment Testing Area (IVETA), an experimental, behavioral science research laboratory.

The Social and Behavioral Research Branch of the NHGRI has the mission to understand the broad swath of behavioral and social issues in translating genomic discovery for health promotion, disease prevention, and health care improvements.

The IVETA is a state of the art research laboratory. Using immersive virtual reality tools, we conduct experiments to investigate an array of psychological and interpersonal processes relevant to applying emerging genomic knowledge in health contexts. IVETA tools enable us to anticipate and conduct rigorous social and behavioral research at the leading edge of the field. A few recent and ongoing projects of note investigate:
-   The influence of emotion on clinical obesity genomics communication
-   The role of perceived patient race and socio-economic status in physician decision-making
-   The behavioral effect of providing family history-based risk information about a child to mothers

Job description
We seek candidates with interest in learning about and applying these innovative research methods to social and behavioral health research and genomics. The fellow will work closely with Susan Persky, who provides scientific leadership of the IVETA, and will collaborate with other investigators on IVETA-based research projects at the intersection of genomics, health and social and behavioral science.

Requirements
The fellowship is designed for those about to finish their PhD or who have completed their doctoral training within the last 5 years.  Experience in experimental behavioral research is strongly preferred. Interest in virtual reality research tools is required, but prior experience is not required.

The fellowship includes a competitive salary and benefits. Applicants should send curriculum vitae, a statement of research interests, and names of three references to: postdocrecruitment@mail.nih.gov. Applications will be reviewed until the position is filled.

Questions about the fellowship should be addressed to Susan Persky (perskys@mail.nih.gov).

More information about the SBRB and postdoctoral fellowships can be found at http://genome.gov/11508935 DHHS and NIH are Equal Opportunity Employers and encourage applications from women and minorities.