Research Fellow, PGY3 EXT (Zebardast)

Education

Can this role accept experience in lieu of a degree?

Licenses and Credentials

Experience

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

POSITION SUMMARY

Serves as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Zebardast Lab at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School, undertaking innovative translational research projects aimed at elucidating the role of allostatic load, genetic risk, and retinal biomarkers in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). The work combines deep learning, imaging analytics, and multi-omics data integration to advance precision risk stratification and identify novel therapeutic targets.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Conduct advanced literature reviews to synthesize emerging findings on allostatic load, chronic stress biology, genetic risk, and glaucoma.
• Design and execute studies integrating multi-dimensional data sources, including fundus imaging, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and polygenic risk scores.
• Train and validate deep learning models for non-invasive prediction of biological health scores (BHS) from retinal images.
• Analyze large-scale biobank data using statistical and machine learning methods to examine associations between AL, retinal aging, and glaucoma phenotypes.
• Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team including geneticists, data scientists, and clinical ophthalmologists to develop NLP pipelines for EHR-based glaucoma phenotyping.
• Present findings in lab meetings, journal clubs, and national conferences.
• Contribute to manuscript writing and submission of peer-reviewed publications and final project reports.
• Assist in grant applications and progress reports related to NIH-funded projects
• Take initiative in administrative tasks such as maintaining project documentation, data inventory, and coordination with bioinformatics support teams.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Doctoral degree (MD or PhD)

WORKING CONDITIONS:

The Zebardast's lab is located in the main hospital building of Mass Eye and Ear, 243 Charles Street, in a research and office workspace that is part of MEE's Ocular Genomics Institute. The fellow will work in an office space adjacent to other fellows, biostatisticians, and students, and will be part of a larger multidisciplinary research environment, which includes geneticists, clinical scientists, and experimental biologists. There is convenient access to MEE cafeteria on the 7th floor and, more importantly, abundant opportunities to interact with other MEE research groups. This position will be hybrid with both remote and in-person components.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

None

HIPAA Privacy Training and Sanctions

All employees who have access to health information whose confidentiality is protected by the HIPAA Privacy Rule are required by the Rule to receive training so that they have an understanding and knowledge of the Privacy Rule that corresponds to their job responsibilities and of the group health plan's policies and procedures that impact on their job duties. Training on the requirements of the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the plan's health information policies and procedures under the direction of the institution's privacy officer is a pre-requisite for this position.

Employees who violate the requirements of the HIPAA Privacy Rule will be subject to discipline, up to and including termination.

This description is intended to indicate essential tasks and levels of work difficulty that will be required of positions that will be given this title. It is not intended to limit or in any way modify the right of supervisors to assign, direct, or control the work of staff members under their supervision. The use of a particular expression or illustration describing duties shall not be held to exclude other duties not mentioned but that are of similar kind or level of difficulty.