Research Scholar (Postdoctoral Research Scholar)

Position Definition

Dr. Sabra Inslicht and the Stress, Trauma, and Resilience Program (STaR Lab) at the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS) are recruiting for a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in PTSD, trauma, sleep, and fear learning.

Essential Functions

• Training & Research Opportunities
• Design and execute research studies focused on PTSD, trauma, sleep, and fear learning (e.g., augmented psychotherapy trials, orexin antagonist trials, experimental fear-conditioning and extinction paradigms, remote psychophysiology).
• Lead data analysis efforts, integrating clinical, psychophysiological, and sleep-related measures.
• Write manuscripts for peer-reviewed publications and develop presentations for national and international conferences.
• Contribute to and increasingly lead grant development, including pilot grants, career development awards, and multi-site proposals.
• For clinically trained fellows (e.g., clinical psychology, psychiatry, social work), engage in supervised clinical assessment and structured, manualized psychotherapy (e.g., exposure-based PTSD treatments) aligned with the fellow’s training level and licensure trajectory.

Potential Projects

• Pharmacologically augmented PTSD treatments, including trials combining evidence-based psychotherapies with medications that facilitate fear extinction or improve sleep.
• Remote and in-lab fear conditioning and extinction paradigms using psychophysiological measures (EDA, EMG, HR/HRV, facial coding, remote PPG).
• Insomnia and sleep disturbance in trauma-exposed populations, including women Veterans in the menopause transition.
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI), PTSD, and sleep as interacting risk factors for functional outcomes and cardiometabolic health.

Qualifications

• Doctoral degree (e.g., PhD, PsyD, MD, or equivalent) in clinical psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry, public health, or a closely related field at the time of appointment.
• Demonstrated research productivity, including peer-reviewed publications or strong evidence of publishable work.
• Strong interest in PTSD and trauma-related disorders, sleep/insomnia, TBI, fear learning/fear extinction, psychophysiology, and/or mechanistically informed interventions.
• Prior experience with clinical research, clinical trials, psychophysiology, sleep research, and/or trauma-exposed populations is highly desirable but not strictly required for outstanding candidates.
• For clinically trained applicants (e.g., clinical psychology, psychiatry, social work), prior experience with clinical assessment and/or evidence-based psychotherapy for PTSD or related conditions is a plus.
• Strong quantitative, analytic, and writing skills; experience with tools such as R, Python, or MATLAB is desirable.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary research team.