Research Fellow

The Kowalski Lab at Dell Medical School wants a Research Fellow

This is a grant funded position that runs for 1 year from the start date. It's renewable ; based on funding, how the work is going, and progress toward goals ; and if renewed, it can run through August 31, 2029. One important note: you must be authorized to work in the United States. No sponsorship is available for this role.

What you'll actually be doing

The lab focuses on building AI driven tools to help doctors pick the right cancer treatments for the right patients. You'll be working at the intersection of computation, translational science, and patient care. Specifically, your day to day includes:

• Designing and evaluating algorithms that match treatments to patients using clinical and molecular datasets.
• Developing knowledge graphs and multimodal embeddings for building digital twins of cancer patients.
• Leading and co authoring high impact publications and helping write grant proposals.
• Working with clinicians, bioinformaticians, and data scientists across UT Austin and partner institutions.
• Mentoring graduate and undergraduate research assistants. You'll also contribute to lab leadership.

What you'll learn here

This isn't just a job ; it's a chance to develop and deploy innovative AI models for treatment discovery and patient specific decision support. You'll get hands on experience with translational research across clinical, academic, and tech domains. And you'll participate in lab initiatives tied to NCI, CPRIT, and NIH funded projects.

What you need to bring

• A PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, computer science, information science, biomedical engineering, or something closely related.
• That PhD must have been awarded within the last three years.
• At least 1 year of experience with machine learning, natural language processing, AI tools and frameworks, data integration, or explainable AI.
• Strong proficiency in Python and R for data science and modeling.
• Solid writing and communication skills, backed by a demonstrated publication record.

What would be nice to have

• Some knowledge of cancer biology, clinical oncology workflows, or multi omics data.

Salary and working conditions

The salary starts at $62,232 and goes up depending on NIH level. You'll be working with standard office equipment and doing repetitive keyboard work.

How to apply

You need to submit a resume or CV, plus 3 work references with contact info (at least one from a supervisor), and a letter of interest.

If you're not a current university employee or contingent worker: when you apply the first time, you'll be prompted to upload your resume. After that, you'll get the option to upload a new resume for later applications. Any additional required materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) go in the Application Questions section ; you can select multiple files there. Make sure everything is uploaded before you submit. Once submitted, you can't make changes.

If you're a current university employee or contingent worker: you need to apply within Workday by searching for "Find UT Jobs." Log in to Workday, go to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left navigation menu, and update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. That info will pull into your application. The application is one page, and you'll be prompted to upload your resume. You also need to respond to the application questions to upload any additional required materials noted above.