Director of Center on Research in Pain and Pain Therapeutics at Rutgers Brain Health Institute

We seek an accomplished scientist, at the Professor or Associate Professor level, to join the Rutgers Brain Health Institute ( BHI) and The Rutgers School of Dental Medicine ( RSDM) as Director of the new Rutgers Center on Research in Pain and Pain Therapeutics ( CRPPT). This new center director will have the responsibility to develop a research center focused on mechanisms underlying pain with a goal of developing novel therapeutic approaches. The CRPPT will build collaborations among scientists with the multidisciplinary expertise required to identify novel therapeutic targets, assess efficacy of treatments, and develop precision medicine approaches to diagnose and treat pain. As a component of the BHI and RSDM, the CRPPT will contain faculty across Rutgers schools and campuses with expertise in pain research and treatment. In addition to BHI and RSDM, participating elements include especially Robert Wood Johnson Medical School ( RWJMS), New Jersey Medical School ( NJMS), Rutgers School of Nursing, Rutgers New Brunswick and Newark Schools of Arts and Sciences, School of Pharmacy, and the affiliated U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in East Orange and Lyons, NJ. The Rutgers CRPPT will be the only comprehensive academic pain research center in NJ.

The ideal candidate will be a leader in pain research with a strong, active federally-funded research program, who can leverage, stimulate, and lead translational science approaches (i.e., basic to clinical to population) to address key questions regarding nociception and pain. The ideal candidate will also need to be comfortable with a forward-facing role, consistent with the high profile this role will hold at Rutgers and within New Jersey. Clinician-scientists with expertise in pain research are particularly encouraged to apply. With two teaching hospitals and over 300 neuroscience faculty labs in Newark and New Brunswick/Piscataway, an affiliation with one of the largest and most accomplished health systems in the state ( RWJBH), as well as proximity to the New York, Princeton and Philadelphia neuroscience communities, Rutgers offers tremendous collaborative opportunities and core facilities to support and grow an outstanding research program. The candidate should be a leader who can coordinate research and lead NIH-supported training programs among a diverse group of faculty, form the nexus of a collaborative research focus or center, and develop new research opportunities.

Applicants must have a PhD, MD, DDS, or equivalent doctoral degree, with currently active independent NIH-funded research program in pain research.

We offer substantial resources to develop a world-class pain research center, and to support the director's own research activities. With a NIH CTSA, Rutgers also offers unique opportunities to speed the translation of research discoveries into clinical trials and improved patient care. Outstanding core facilities will support this position. Rutgers values a culturally diverse faculty; we strongly encourage applications from female and candidates underrepresented in medicine.

Applicants should submit a CV and statement of research accomplishments and plans to Dr. Yuanxiang Tao, the Chair of the search committee, at bhi@bhi.rutgers.edu.