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Penn MedicineAnna Rose Childress, Ph.D. Perelman School /of/ Medicine/Research Professor/ University /of/ Pennsylvania Health System Department of Psychiatry * * * OPEN for IMMEDIATE APPLICATION *

We are seeking a _Post-Doctoral Fellow with strong technical skills in neuroimaging_, and a potential interest in the clinical neuroscience of addiction, for a position in our NIH/NIDA T32 Translational Addiction Research Fellowship within the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. The selected candidate will become a member of our inter-disciplinary clinical neuroimaging laboratory with ongoing, funded projects in cocaine, marijuana, nicotine and opiate addiction. The T32 Fellowship position is funded up to three years, and could develop into a long-term position within the laboratory and the University.

Our laboratory is especially focused on understanding brain vulnerabilities that may underlie the difficult clinical problem of relapse, with the goal of improving addiction treatment. Within this general domain – we are pursuing several vulnerabilities (e.g., heightened response of motivational/reward circuit response to drug cues; poor frontal modulation of the limbic response to appetitive and aversive/stress cues; poor inhibition, impaired decision-making, etc.), using these brain measures both as predictors of relapse, and as brain targets for medication/medication discovery. Recently, we have begun to combine brain imaging and hypothesis-driven genetics with the goal of understanding the heterogeneity in relapse, and in medication response, for our clinical populations. Though our primary tool is MRI (BOLD, ASL, and structural), we also have ongoing neuroligand imaging. We push our neuroimaging tools toward novel applications, including recent characterization of the brain response to ultra-brief, subliminal cues for reward, and the development of real-time fMRI feedback for improved cognitive control. _All of the described projects have significant existing datasets, offering a technically-skilled post-doc a stream of immediate publication opportunities. _

Our addictions research group is part of an extensive network of neuroimaging efforts across several research Centers and schools at Penn (Perelman School of Medicine, School of Arts and Sciences, Annenberg School of Communications, Wharton School of Business), and the adjacent Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The imaging resources include multiple MR scanners, as well as capabilities for MRS, MEG, FNIRS, PET, and soon-to-come, concurrent MRI-PET scanning. Our custom, web-based neuroinformatics software, WISDM, enables rapid sharing and display of raw data and imaging results, facilitating collaborations within and beyond our lab.

Successful candidates will have strong communication skills and clear technical expertise, including prior experience with one or more statistical packages for neuroimaging (e.g., SPM, FSL, AFNI). Demonstrated ability to apply more advanced tools (e.g., connectivity, causal modeling, FIR, etc.), and to integrate imaging and non-imaging (behavioral measures; genetics) will be an advantage. The ability to publish research findings is important for this position. Candidates will have completed an MD or PhD or equivalent degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., engineering, biomedical engineering, biophysics, mathematics, neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, etc.).

The University of Pennsylvania is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Minorities and women are strongly encouraged to apply. *US Citizenship or Permanent Resident status (green card) is required. *Applications will be considered until the position is filled. Please e-mail a CV, a one-page letter of your interest in, and potential fit for, the position, and the names of 3 references to the laboratory director / NIDA T32 Fellowship Training Director, Dr. Anna Rose Childress _(childres@mail.med.upenn.edu)_.