Postdoctoral Fellowship in Human Factors in Healthcare

GENERAL SUMMARY/ OVERVIEW STATEMENT:

The Neil and Elise Wallace STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation is committed to advancing medical education, patient safety, and healthcare outcomes through cutting-edge applications of medical simulation technologies supported by innovative curricula, contemporary educational methodologies, continuous improvement, and rigorous, multidisciplinary research.

At STRATUS, the Human Factors and Cognitive Engineering lab, led by Dr. Roger Dias, MD, PhD, MBA, brings together a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, engineers, psychologists, computer scientists and educators, including collaborations with several scientists and institutions, nationally and internationally. The core mission of our research lab involves the use of cutting-edge technologies to understand and improve clinicians’ performance, with the ultimate goal of enhancing patient safety and improving clinical outcomes. Our projects have been funded by NASA, NIH, DoD, and others to use advanced methodologies in human performance research, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and digital biomarkers captured through wearable physiological sensors.

The Postdoctoral Fellowship in Human Factors in Healthcare is intended for recent graduates of doctoral programs in medicine, engineering or human factors with interests in applying data science and cognitive engineering to measure and support human performance during patient care in complex environments, such as surgery, emergency medicine, and space missions. The program is ideal for early-career scientists seeking additional experience in the healthcare field, as well as opportunities to apply digital technologies, data science, and human factors methodologies to improve patient care and safety. The research fellow will be mentored by a multidisciplinary team of experts allowing her/him to gain extensive knowledge and experience in diverse research areas including medicine, human factors, psychology, cognitive science, behavioral sciences, and aerospace science.

The selected candidate will be appointed for one year, with the opportunity to renew the appointment for a second year pending performance review and grant funding. Salary will be commensurate with experience, based on BWH and NIH guidelines for postdoctoral trainees. Benefits include comprehensive health insurance, optional dental, vision, and retirement plans, and reimbursement for conference travel related to fellowship projects. BWH is a Harvard Affiliated Teaching Hospital, and the research fellow will be eligible for appointment at Harvard Medical School.

Applicants must submit the following:

• Current CV
• Recent writing sample (e.g. peer-reviewed manuscript or pre-print, GitHub coding)
• Candidates selected for an interview will be asked to submit two letters of recommendation

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The successful candidate will conduct research within the emerging field of cognitive engineering, applying advanced data analytics, and human factors methods. The research fellow will build large multi-source databases that include time-series physiological data, demographics, behavioral and psychological assessments, video, audio, and clinical performance outcomes. The fellow will also write IRB protocols and support all research regulatory policies and procedures.

The postdoctoral fellow will work mainly on an NIH-funded project that involves data collection in the operating room. The fellow will work a few days a week at our collaboration site in the Boston Greater area to conduct data collection.

QUALIFICATIONS:

All applicants must have an MD, ScD or PhD in medicine, engineering, human factors, or a related field, with extensive knowledge, skills and demonstrated experience in surgery or other healthcare settings.

SKILLS/ ABILITIES/ COMPETENCIES REQUIRED:

• Familiar with physiological signal processing and time series analysis
• Experience in running simulation or human factors experiments
• Experience in the surgical field, either as a trainee or researcher