Jobs and Careers

Postdoctoral Fellow in Biostatistics & Health Data Science

Indianapolis, United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 11 Aug 2026

About the role

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 UMLS
Agent-based workflows that explain, refine, and adapt semantic mappings over time
Hybrid architectures that combine knowledge-grounded reasoning with flexible machine learning
Tools that reduce manual burden while preserving traceability and clinical interpretability

This 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 alignment
Develop multi-agent or RAG-style (retrieval-augmented generation) workflows for schema matching and terminology mapping
Collaborate with national and multi-institutional initiatives in data integration and standardization
Support 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 venues
Contribute to grant development and proposal writing

What We Offer-

A collaborative environment at the intersection of real-world data, applied AI, and translational science
Opportunities to work across academic, clinical, and public health settings
Mentorship and support toward independent research or career development in academia or industry
Competitive salary and benefits through Indiana University
A culture that values both scientific innovation and practical impact

The 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, In