The Collaborative Hub for Emerging Adult Recovery Research (CHEARR) at the UConn Health School of Medicine is recruiting a postdoctoral fellow interested in a career conducting research on recovery support services for emerging adults with substance use disorders. The fellow will work directly under the mentorship of Dr. Kristyn Zajac, with opportunities for external mentorship from researchers at Chestnut Health Systems, East Tennessee State University, and the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Fellowships are 1-2 years depending on training needs. The fellow will primarily work on a NIDA-funded Initiative (the Collaborative Hub for Emerging Adult Recovery Research [CHEARR], R24DA057632) focused on recovery supports for emerging adults with opioid use disorder. CHEARR seeks to advance research on the efficacy/effectiveness of recovery support services, particularly continuing care models, for emerging adults who take or who have taken medications for opioid use disorder. We use a community-based participatory approach, which means persons with lived experience with opioid use disorder, and particularly with taking medications for opioid use disorder as part of their recovery process, are an integral part of the research team. As such, recruiting postdoctoral fellowship applicants with lived experiences (i.e., in recovery from substance use and/or personal experience with familial substance use problems) is a high priority for CHEARR.
Beyond CHEARR activities, integration into other projects will be based on the fellow’s interests and training needs. There are currently multiple NIH-funded studies that employ various research designs and methods, including randomized controlled trials, stepped-wedge cluster randomized trials, multimodal assessments of risk factors for substance use treatment dropout, mHealth intervention development and evaluation, working with community boards who partner on research, and data from legal system-related studies, among others. There are also data from multiple NIH-funded randomized clinical trials focused on treatment of substance use problems available for secondary analysis.
Role of the Postdoctoral Fellow:
As an essential member of the investigative team, you will…
- Conduct advanced grant-funded research (e.g., plan data collection and advanced statistical analysis, ensure fidelity of intervention implementation and community partner engagement, develop training curricula and supervise intervention implementation, collaborate with a project coordinator on project-related tasks, assist in training and supervising data collection staff, assist with dissemination of research results)
- Pursue extramural funding (e.g., NIH K-series award or diversity supplement) and attend trainings designed to launch your own independently funded research career
- Serve as primary author or co-author for journal articles and chapters for publication
- Write or assist with writing grant progress reports and new grant applications
- Attend professional conferences for continuing education and to present study results
