Research Scientist I, Moody Brain Health Institute

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY:
UTMB Health strives to provide equal opportunity employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state or local laws unless such distinction is required by law. As a Federal Contractor, UTMB Health takes affirmative action to hire and advance protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

JOB DESCRIPTION\:     
The Research Scientist will lead research and development focused on digital twin modeling for brain health and health trajectory prediction within the Moody Brain Health Institute. This role involves designing, implementing, and validating computational models that simulate individual brain and health states across the lifespan. The scientist will integrate multi-modal patient data, including neuroimaging, electrophysiology, genomics, digital biomarkers, and electronic health records (EHRs), to create predictive digital twins capable of informing early diagnosis, personalized interventions, and resilience modeling. The position combines data science, neuroscience, and translational health research to advance precision brain health. They will also contribute to development of grant proposals, and scholarly publications. 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Execute the core’s research initiatives, advancing key projects and objectives.
• Design and implement predictive models based on patient data to support research and clinical applications.
• Lead the development of virtual patient models to advance personalized medicine and data-driven research.
• Develop comprehensive data extraction strategies for Electronic Health Record (EHR) data, ensuring efficient and accurate analysis.
• Integrate multi-scale data sources such as neuroimaging, omics, cognitive, behavioral, and EHR data to build comprehensive individual-level representations.
• Present research findings and core activities at both internal and external conferences, symposia, and workshops.
• Support grant applications and publications, highlighting innovations in digital twin technologies for brain health.
• Contribute to infrastructure planning, including computing resources, secure data management, and AI model governance.
• Partner with the core director to plan resources and training for the development of AI tools and technologies.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/ABILITIES

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with a high degree of professionalism. 

• Experience with high-throughput data analysis.

• Proficiency in AI, deep learning, and data fusion techniques for multimodal health data.

• Familiarity with federated or privacy-preserving learning for healthcare applications.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to convey complex bioinformatics concepts to non-experts.

• Strong analytical skills and a proactive approach to problem resolution.

• Excellent decision-making skills.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD in Bioinformatics, Data Science, Biomedical Informatics, or a related biomedical field.
• Proven experience in Artificial Intelligence and/or statistical modeling, 
• Familiarity with EHR data extraction, and analysis.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate with interdisciplinary teams.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS\: 

• Experience in working with AI and machine learning models, particularly in the biomedical context.
• Experience in digital twin frameworks, personalized modeling, or health trajectory prediction.
• Proven ability to lead collaborative, data-driven projects across disciplines.
• Prior involvement in leading or managing research projects.

SALARY:
Commensurate with experience.