Postdoc position in Biomedical Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Position: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Preventive Medicine, Health and Biomedical Informatics Division; Feinberg School of Medicine

Job Type: Full-time
Location: Chicago, IL
Required Travel: No
Compensation: Competitive
Start Date: Immediate

Job Description: Northwestern University has A POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW position in Biomedical Natural Language Processing (NLP) open in the Division of Health and Biomedical Informatics. The position is part of a collaborative project with Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute (BCVI). The successful candidate will participate in innovative research to use NLP methods for clinical information extraction. They will work in a stimulating environment of the Division of Health and Biomedical Informatics.
Organization Overview: Founded in 1851, Northwestern University is regarded among the leading research centers in the nation. The University maintains high national and international recognition for its accomplishments in medical research and boasts a proud tradition of excellence, with faculty who are members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Feinberg School of Medicine – one of Northwestern University's twelve colleges and schools – stands out among the nation's medical schools. Feinberg has built a national reputation for excellence through a strong history of collaborative, interdisciplinary medical education and research, and along with Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Medical Group is part of the premier academic medical center known as Northwestern Medicine. Feinberg stands out among the nation's research-intensive medical schools and consistently receives high marks in U.S. News & World Report surveys. Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) is one of the country's leading academic medical centers located in downtown Chicago. NMH's Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute (BCVI) is a nationally recognized program that delivers highly specialized cardiovascular care. In 2014, U.S. News & World Report ranked the Cardiology and Heart Surgery program 13th in the nation and ranked NMH number one in the Chicago metro region.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Conduct clinical natural language processing research (primarily information extraction) within the scope of cardiovascular areas such as Bicuspid Aortic Valve (BAV), heart failure and functional MR.
• Consultation with co-investigators on appropriate design and development.
• Work toward independent research writing papers, manuscripts, presentations and briefs.
• Supervise students and other techs working in the dry lab.
• Prepare written reports and publications as primary author and present research findings at regional and national meetings. 

Minimum Qualifications:

• MD with experience in informatics OR PhD in Computer Science, Biomedical Informatics or related fields with a focus on Natural Language Processing or Computational Linguistics and exposure to clinical notes
• Strong publication record in Biomedical Natural Language Processing.
• Ability to work in a collaborative environment, with a strong commitment to achieving research goals.
• Solid programming skills including expertise in Java and SQL.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience in mining information from cardiovascular clinical notes
• Exposure to cardiovascular domain

To Apply:
Contact Dr. Jonnalagadda (sid@northwestern.edu) with your CV, 2-3 references and research statement.