Faculty Position - Pediatric Translational Behavioral Neuroscience Research

Emory University is a leading research university that fosters excellence and attracts world-class talent to innovate today and prepare leaders for the future. We welcome candidates who can contribute to the excellence of our academic community.

About the role

The Center for Behavioral and Mental Health at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Children’s Center for Neurosciences Research at Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta are jointly seeking a faculty member to advance a translational discovery agenda. Candidates must conduct research relevant to improving the care of infants and children at elevated risk for developing neuropsychiatric disorders due to genetic, environmental, or combined causal influences. Physician-scientists are encouraged to apply, and an MD and/or PhD is required.

We seek candidates with research vision who can develop and lead a translational research agenda studying behavior and mental health using neuroscience-based approaches. Ideal candidates will have technological experience in neuroscience and be prepared to harness these technologies to advance knowledge of causal mechanisms in brain and behavioral development, as well as define potential targets for higher-impact therapies for neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood.

Areas of particular interest include in-depth studies of causation, tracing genetic, epigenetic, and/or environmental variation to the developmental processes governing brain and behavioral maturation. We encourage approaches involving translatable model systems, innovative clinical trials, or strategic collections of biomaterials, brain imaging, or behavioral data from developing children.

The candidate is expected to develop an innovative, externally funded research program leveraging the clinical infrastructure of the Center for Behavioral and Mental Health and the collaborative community within the Children’s Center for Neurosciences Research. Scientific agendas focused on parsimonious developmental mediators of psychiatric conditions—such as mood dysregulation, the p factor, autism-related variation in reciprocal social behavior, callous-unemotional traits, risk profiles indexed by early childhood temperament, or brain/behavioral sequelae of early emotional trauma—are of great interest.

This position provides access to clinical electronic health record data from a large, evolving learning health system for child mental health, designed to model timely delivery of evidence-based care to a representative population of infants, children, and adolescents, over 65% of whom are governmentally insured.

Primary faculty appointment will be in Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, Division of Behavioral and Mental Health, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. The role offers a highly interactive, collegial research environment with state-of-the-art facilities and collaborations with the Marcus Autism Center, Emory National Primate Research Center, and the Grady Trauma Project.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead a translational research agenda focused on neuroscience-based approaches to behavior and mental health.
• Conduct research to improve care for children at elevated risk for neuropsychiatric disorders.
• Leverage technological expertise in neuroscience to study causal mechanisms in brain and behavioral development.
• Identify potential targets for higher-impact therapies for childhood neuropsychiatric disorders.
• Secure external funding to support an innovative research program.
• Collaborate with clinical and research teams within the Center for Behavioral and Mental Health and the Children’s Center for Neurosciences Research.
• Utilize clinical electronic health record data from a large pediatric learning health system.

Requirements

• MD and/or PhD required.
• Research experience relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders in children.
• Technological expertise in neuroscience.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and lead a funded research program.
• Commitment to advancing translational research in pediatric behavioral and mental health.

Benefits

This job opportunity is part of a $200M investment to grow our team of world-class child health researchers, aiming to recruit 30 new researchers over five years.

Schedule

This role will be granted the opportunity to work from home regularly but must be able to commute to Emory University on a flexible weekly schedule based on business needs. Schedule is based on agreed-upon guidelines of the department. This role requires residency in the state of Georgia.