Postdoctoral Fellow-Implementation Science and Dementia Public Health

The University of Pennsylvania, a historic member of the Ivy League, is recognized globally for excellence in research and education. Guided by founder Ben Franklin’s vision of “useful knowledge,” Penn emphasizes innovation that serves the public good. The university includes 12 schools, such as the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Nursing, School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Wharton School. Penn is also home to leading graduate and professional schools, including the Perelman School of Medicine, offering a vibrant, interdisciplinary environment for scholars. Postdoctoral researchers benefit from extensive resources, collaborations, and professional development opportunities.

About the role

Join the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing research team as a Postdoctoral Fellow and help state, local and tribal public health programs put proven dementia strategies into practice. The fellow will build and run the implementation science behind the ADRD Public Health Adoption Accelerator (CDC-RFA-DP-26-0227, Component 3): a national registry of which public health sites are taking which Healthy Brain Initiative (HBI) Road Map actions, and a coaching program that helps sites take more of them. The role offers high-impact research with a multidisciplinary team, direct work with health departments and tribal programs across the country, and mentored preparation for an independent research career.

Qualifications

• A PhD in public health or equivalent doctoral degree in nursing, implementation science, health services research, gerontology, health policy or a related field by the start date.
• Training or applied experience with implementation science frameworks (e.g., CFIR, ERIC, RE-AIM, Proctor's implementation outcomes).
• Experience with systematic document review or qualitative coding, including building codebooks and assessing inter-rater reliability.
• Mixed-methods skills, including qualitative analysis software (e.g., NVivo, Dedoose, ATLAS.ti) and a statistical package (e.g., R, Stata, SAS).
• Experience working with state, local or tribal health departments, or with CDC-funded programs, is strongly preferred.
• A background in aging, dementia, caregiving or chronic disease prevention is strongly preferred.
• Experience partnering with American Indian or Alaska Native communities and familiarity with tribal data sovereignty principles is preferred.
• Experience with technical assistance, learning collaboratives or facilitation, and with database or dashboard tools (e.g., REDCap, Airtable, Tableau), is preferred.
• Excellent scientific writing and oral communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to prepare manuscripts and present findings clearly.
• A track record of scholarly productivity, including peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.
• Ability to work independently, take initiative and manage multiple tasks.
• Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills for work within a research team and with public health partners.