"Research Assistant Professor"

Posted: 23-Jan-26

Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Categories: Academic/Faculty, Medical - Research

Internal Number: 312205

Employment Type: Permanent Faculty

Vacancy ID: FAC0005795

Salary Range: Dependent on Experience and Qualifications

Position Summary/Description:

The UNC Institute for Trauma Recovery (ITR) is seeking a Research Assistant Professor (Non-Tenure Track Faculty) to help advance our institute mission as part of the Department of Psychiatry at UNC. The ITR conducts emergency care-based research studies in which individuals are enrolled into prospective observational or intervention studies that seek to better understand and prevent posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae (https://www.med.unc.edu/itr/). The Department of Psychiatry (https://www.med.unc.edu/psych/) in which the ITR resides provides an outstanding environment for groundbreaking research, clinical care, career development and interface with colleagues and other units that perform basic, translational, and clinical research.

The work of the ITR has two overarching goals: (1) To increase understanding of how adverse posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, pain and other somatic symptoms) develop after traumatic stress exposure (e.g., motor vehicle collision, military deployment, sexual assault); and (2) To develop interventions that prevent these outcomes. Our primary strategy to achieve these goals is to recruit and retain outstanding, talented, self-motivated staff, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty who are passionate about improving the lives of trauma survivors. We operate several large acute care-based research networks/registries to perform this work. There are a diversity of activities going on within the ITR to serve our mission, and substantial opportunity to tailor activities based on individual interests (e.g., conduct of medication and/or non-medication clinical trials, analysis of longitudinal data, etc.).

Examples of things a successful candidate will be expected to assist with include:

• Lead ongoing externally funded clinical research projects within the ITR.
• Design, implement, and oversee clinical trials, including emergency department-based, multi-site studies.
• Develop and manage collaborations with internal and external investigators and research sites nationwide.
• Analyze clinical, biological, and patient-reported data; publish results in peer-reviewed journals; and present at national/international meetings.
• Mentor and train graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research staff, and early-stage investigators.
• Contribute to grant development and submission to sustain and expand the ITR's research portfolio.