Staff Research Associate I

Position Definition:

The Stress, Trauma, and Resilience Program (STaR Lab) at the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS), in partnership with Northern California Institute for Research and Education, Inc. (NCIRE) and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), is seeking a motivated Staff Research Associate I (SRA I) to support clinical and experimental studies on trauma- and stressor-related disorders in Veterans, with a particular focus on PTSD, sleep disturbance, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and fear learning.

Our overarching goal is to deepen the mechanistic understanding of these conditions and to develop mechanism-informed, pharmacologically augmented psychotherapies that directly target the neural systems involved, with a focus on enhancing fear extinction and related learning processes. Ultimately, we aim to translate this work into more targeted, effective treatments for Veterans with PTSD, insomnia, TBI, and other trauma-related difficulties.

This position is ideal for someone early in their research career who wants hands-on experience in clinical research and psychophysiology, and who may be considering graduate or medical school (e.g., Clinical Psychology, Neuroscience, Public Health, or related fields). The role includes a mix of research tasks and study operations/administrative support, with extensive training and supervision provided.

 

Essential Functions:

Research Support

Under close supervision of the PI and senior staff, the SRA I will:

• Assist with augmented psychotherapy trials that combine evidence-based PTSD treatments (e.g., exposure-based therapies) with medications targeting mechanisms underlying the disorder, including those that facilitate fear extinction.
• Help administer, pilot, and monitor remote psychophysiological fear-conditioning paradigms, including online and lab-based experimental tasks.
• Assist in setting up and monitoring psychophysiological recording sessions using systems such as Biopac and Lab Streaming Layer (LSL)-based data pipelines (training provided).
• Help acquire, process, and organize multi-modal psychophysiological signals, including electrodermal activity (EDA), electromyography (EMG), heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), facial coding outputs, and remote photoplethysmography (PPG) signals derived from video.
• Administer and score self-report questionnaires and, with training and supervision, assist with structured clinical interviews assessing PTSD symptoms, trauma exposure, mood, and sleep-related functioning.
• Help collect, process, and organize sleep-related data, including actigraphy and EEG-based measures (training provided).
• Assist with data management and basic analysis (e.g., entering data in REDCap, checking data quality, preparing spreadsheets, running simple scripts or analyses with supervision).

Study Operations & Administrative Support

• Help with participant recruitment, screening, scheduling, and visit reminders, including phone, mail, and electronic outreach.
• Assist in maintaining regulatory documents (e.g., consent forms, logs) and support IRB-related tasks under the guidance of senior staff.
• Communicate professionally with Veterans, clinicians, and research team members to support smooth study operations.
• Track and update study logs, enrollment trackers, and visit windows; help prepare materials for progress reports and other study documentation.
• Provide general support for NCIRE and VA administrative processes, such as organizing study materials, assisting with onboarding of volunteers, and helping prepare meeting agendas or summaries.

 

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Neuroscience, Biology, Public Health, or a related field (required).
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and reliability in following protocols and procedures.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated interest in trauma/PTSD, fear learning, psychophysiology, and/or sleep-related processes (coursework, volunteering, or prior research experience are all helpful)