The Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine (CBSSM) at the University of Michigan, which is led by interim Co-Directors Dr. Brian Zikmund-Fisher and Prof. Kayte Spector-Bagdady, is accepting applications for postdoctoral research fellows in the areas of (a) Bioethics, and (b) Decision Sciences.

The mission of the CBSSM is to improve the practice of medicine by supporting a vibrant interdisciplinary community that provides clinical ethics, research ethics, and ethics education services and generates leading empirical bioethics, decision science, and health communications research.

CBSSM postdoctoral fellows collaborate on established projects and are encouraged to conduct independent research with an emphasis on study inception, manuscript writing, and applying for grants. CBSSM’s resources and collaborative support provide fellows with mentorship, expose them to multiple methodological approaches to research in decision making and bioethics, and enable fellows to build their own research programs. Postdoctoral fellows contribute to the scholarly mission and intellectual life at the Center by regularly attending Center research seminars and working groups and by participating in a rotation on our ethics consultation service. Dr. Zikmund-Fisher leads the CBSSM Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program.

The CBSSM postdoctoral research fellowships in either Bioethics or Decision Sciences are annual appointments that will start in late summer or early fall of 2024 and may be renewed for one additional year contingent upon satisfactory performance and the availability of funding. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience and education.

Bioethics Postdoctoral Research Fellow
This fellowship focuses on research and clinical ethics as well as empirical research methods. Candidates' area of focus must be in bioethics, although their backgrounds may be in social or natural sciences, humanities, medicine, or law. Active projects in bioethics at CBSSM currently include the ethical, legal, and social implications of genomic medicine, human subjects research ethics, empirical research with relevance to clinical ethics, reproductive rights, deliberative democratic methods in bioethics, resource allocation, and ethical issues associated with learning health systems, among others.

Decision Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellow
This fellowship focuses on understanding and improving the health care communication and decisions made by both patients and providers. Past postdoctoral fellows have included scholars whose research in health care communication and decision making has been grounded in theories and methodologies drawn from social cognition, motivation and emotion, decision psychology, risk communication, human factors, ethics, and economics.

Application Details
Evaluation of CBSSM fellowship candidates will begin on December 11, 2023 and will be evaluated on a rolling basis through January 10, 2024.

All requirements of the PhD or equivalent terminal degree must be completed before a postdoctoral research fellow appointment can begin. Candidates are required to submit a cover letter, including a detailed statement of research interests, a CV, and a writing sample. The letter of research interests should identify potential future research topics (although fellows are encouraged to evolve their interests during the fellowship) and should emphasize, in concrete terms, the applicant’s potential fit to CBSSM’s areas of expertise and how the fellowship fits into their overall career goals. Semi-finalists will be asked to submit three letters of recommendation, so references should be alerted that letters may be requested in January 2024. All application materials (including recommendation letters) should be submitted electronically through the online application form that can be accessed at cbssm.med.umich.edu.