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General information

Location
Cambridge, MA
Ref #
42540
Job Family
Research
Workplace
On-Site
Date published
02-Jul-2025
Time Type
Full time

Description & Requirements

We are looking for a highly motivated individual to join the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute. The candidate should have a strong computational background and demonstrated knowledge of research methods, and be able to adapt quickly and be part of a cross-functional team in a rapidly changing environment.

This position is ideal for a candidate interested in early life adversity, population mental health, social determinants, and neuropsychiatric genetics. Finally, the ideal candidate may have a strong interest in an academic or research career given the strong mentoring and opportunities for publication that this role can expect. Dr. Karestan Koenen is a Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and leads the Global Neuropsychiatric Genomics Initiative of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad Institute. The broad goal of Dr. Koenen’s research program is to reduce the population burden of mental disorders through research, training, and advocacy. Her current research portfolio covers three broad areas: 1) reducing disparities in psychiatric genetics research through large scale projects on the genetics of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, and Uganda[https://www.broadinstitute.org/stanleycenter-psychiatric-research/stanley-global – more detail at the bottom of this]; 2)investigating risk and resilience following violence and other traumatic events; and 3) understanding how violence, trauma, and PTSD alter long-term physical health and accelerate aging. Dr. Koenen also leads HSPH’s Interdisciplinary Concentration in Population Mental Health, the goal of which is to increase expertise in mental disorders among public health professionals. 

The Stanley Center and the Broad Institute provide a vibrant multidisciplinary research environment with close links to MIT, Harvard and the Harvard-affiliated hospitals across Boston. As a member of our team, you will be provided the opportunity for your contributions to be utilized and recognized across the vast global network of researchers in the fields of genomics and psychiatric disease research. 

CHARACTERISTIC DUTIES
  • Working closely with analyst colleagues to understand various methods for investigating the association between genetic and phenotypic variables. 
  • Working alongside informatics colleagues to clean and analyze genetic and epidemiologic datasets. 
  • Application of these approaches to large-scale psychiatric databases.
  • Create pipelines using existing analysis tools to process data in an automated and efficient fashion.
  • Responsible for documentation and error reporting for existing tools.
  • Ensure data quality control is constantly and consistently applied to incoming data sets.
  • Create reports of data quality and communicate these to computational staff.
  • Coordinates and carries out designated research tasks and projects, making use of selected methodology and materials, library research, statistical analysis, or other investigative techniques.
  • Processes, organizes and summarizes data, reporting results using a variety of scientific, word processing, spreadsheet or statistical software applications or program platforms.
  • Submits periodic reports of project status to supervisor, regularly suggesting additional tests or modifications in current procedures.
  • Collates, organizes, and/or drafts material for the preparation of research papers, manuscripts, progress reports, articles or other documents for publication and/or presentation.
  • Serves as a source of information or reference on specific research techniques, and trains others in technical procedures or operations. 
  • Participates in the design of analysis. 
  • May oversee the activities of other research staff. 
  • May assist in assessment or judgment of data validity.
  • Other related duties as assigned 

QUALIFICATIONS
  • B.S. required in mathematics, statistics, computer science, bioinformatics or other data sciences.
  • Neuroscience or psychology graduates with considerable computational experience will also be considered. 
  • Strong initiative and ability to take ownership of assigned tasks and projects are essential.
  • Solid understanding of genetic analysis methodologies and tools. Practical experience with statistical programming (R, UNIX, Python) of advanced statistical methods
  • Demonstrated attention to detail and analytical skills. Ability to work effectively in a multidisciplinary team environment.
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
  • Excellent written and oral presentation skills.
  • Must be flexible and able to respond to shifting priorities in a dynamic setting.