Posting Details
Position Details
| Title | Postdoctoral Fellow in Biostatistics & Health Data Science |
|---|---|
| Specific Title | |
| Appointment Type | Postdoctoral Fellow |
| Department | IUSM – Biostatistics |
| Campus | IU School of Medicine Indianapolis |
| Position Summary | Research Context & Opportunity- Modern healthcare increasingly depends on integrating data across hospitals, registries, cohorts, and public health systems. Yet semantic heterogeneity—differences in terminology, structure, and logic—remains a central barrier to reusability, interoperability, and reproducibility.This postdoctoral position addresses a fundamental and timely research question: How can Large Language Models (LLMs) and intelligent agents support transparent, scalable, and auditable clinical data harmonization? We are particularly interested in:LLM-driven systems for aligning real-world health data to standards like OMOP CDM, FHIR, and UMLSAgent-based workflows that explain, refine, and adapt semantic mappings over timeHybrid architectures that combine knowledge-grounded reasoning with flexible machine learningTools that reduce manual burden while preserving traceability and clinical interpretabilityThis position offers the opportunity to publish novel methods, work with real messy multi-source data, and contribute to infrastructure supporting population-level research and health equity.The postdoctoral fellow will be based in the Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science at Indiana University School of Medicine, in close collaboration with the Regenstrief Institute, a nationally renowned center for health informatics research and real-world data infrastructure.Indiana University is home to one of the largest medical schools in the U.S., with extensive collaborations across informatics, clinical departments, and health systems (IU Health, Eskenazi Health, etc.).Regenstrief Institute is internationally recognized for its leadership in data standards (e.g., LOINC), clinical data networks (e.g., Indiana Network for Patient Care), and health information infrastructure.This environment supports both methodological research and operational implementation across state, national, and multi-institutional networks (e.g., NIH, OHDSI, PCORnet, ACT Network).Our Team’s Approach-We are not a pure research group. We operate at the interface of research and health data operations, building methods that not only publish but also deploy. We handle real clinical and public health data problems where ambiguity, variation, and scale are the norm—not the exception.We welcome postdocs who want to drive innovation while engaging deeply with practical, meaningful data challenges.Responsibilities Design and implement LLM-based methods for clinical data harmonization, semantic normalization, and ontology alignmentDevelop multi-agent or RAG-style (retrieval-augmented generation) workflows for schema matching and terminology mappingCollaborate with national and multi-institutional initiatives in data integration and standardizationSupport open-source tooling, reproducible pipelines, and standards-based approaches (e.g., OMOP, FHIR, UMLS)Lead or support manuscript preparation and dissemination at top informatics and AI venuesContribute to grant development and proposal writingWhat We Offer-A collaborative environment at the intersection of real-world data, applied AI, and translational scienceOpportunities to work across academic, clinical, and public health settingsMentorship and support toward independent research or career development in academia or industryCompetitive salary and benefits through Indiana UniversityA culture that values both scientific innovation and practical impactThe Indianapolis Campus is the focal point of health professions education at Indiana University, and the School of Medicine is the country’s second largest allopathic medical school. Indianapolis consistently ranks high nationally on many of the “best places to live” lists and has an economy that is growing in the life sciences arena. In addition, it has always been one of the cities with the lowest cost of living. Carmel, Indy’s northern neighbor, was recently named as the best mid-sized city in the country.IUSM is committed to being a welcoming campus community and we seek candidates whose research, teaching, and community engagement efforts contribute to robust learning and working environments for all students, staff, and faculty. We invite individuals who will join us in our mission to improve health equity and well-being for all throughout the state of Indiana.Indianapolis is the capital and most populous city in the State of Indiana. It is growing economically thanks to a strong corporate base anchored by the life sciences. Indiana is home to one of the largest concentrations of health sciences companies in the nation. Indianapolis has a sophisticated blend of charm and culture with a wonderful balance of business and leisure. The growing residential base is supported by rich amenities and quality of life – the city possesses a variety of professional sports, arts venues and outdoor recreation areas. Residents of this dynamic city, and surrounding suburbs, enjoy leading educational systems and top-ranked universities, paired with a diverse population. Indianapolis International Airport is a top-ranked international airport, being named “Best Airport in North America” by Airports Council International for many years. For additional information on life in Indy: https://faculty.medicine.iu.edu/relocation. The search will continue until the positions are filled. |
| Basic Qualifications | Required Qualifications:Ph.D. (by start date) in Computer Science, Biomedical Informatics, Health Data Science, Biostatistics, or a closely related area.Strong ML/deep learning foundation plus expertise in at least one of: multimodal learning, time-series modeling, or NLP.Demonstrated working experience with healthcare data (e.g., EHR, clinical text, imaging, omics).Proficiency in Python and ML tooling (e.g., PyTorch, scikit-learn), version control (Git), and experiment tracking (e.g., Weights & Biases).Excellent written and oral communication skills, and ability to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams. |
| Department Contact for Questions | Professor Jiang Bian via email at: bianji@iu.edu |
| Additional Qualifications | Preferred Qualifications:Experience with concept normalization, ontology mapping, or schema alignmentFamiliarity with LLM agents, tool-augmented reasoning, or hybrid rules + LLM systemsRecord of publications in relevant domains (informatics, machine learning, AI, knowledge representation)Experience with multi-site data harmonization or federated data environments |
| Special Instructions | |
| Priority Application Review Deadline | |
| Expected Start Date | |
| Posting Number | IUSM-02358-2026 |
Supplemental Questions
Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).
- * How did you hear about this position?
- Personal Contact: At Professional Meeting or Conference
- Personal Contact: Direct Contact by Search Committee
- Personal Contact: Referred by colleague or advisor
- Personal Contact: School of Medicine recruiter
- Personal Contact: IUHP Physician Recruiter
- Announcement: Other Journal or Magazine
- Announcement: Other Website
- * Are you a dual career partner (your partner or spouse is already being recruited)?
- Yes
- No
Applicant Documents
Required Documents
- Curriculum Vitae
- Letter of Application
- List Of References