Post Doctoral Associate - Social Work PathLab

About PathLab PathLab is an interdisciplinary research group conducting values-driven, applied mental health services research at the critical end of the field. Our work foregrounds lived experience authority, epistemic justice, and Mad Studies and disability justice frameworks, and engages critically with dominant biomedical and policy paradigms. We study the intersections of coercion, poverty, and serious mental illness across early psychosis services, antipsychotic discontinuation, service disengagement, and community mental health implementation, with the goal of informing more just and responsive policy and practice in the public mental health sector.

Position Overview We seek a postdoctoral fellow to contribute across a portfolio of federally funded studies. The position is sustained by three active R01 grants spanning: work and school (vocational and educational) outcomes in early psychosis; service disengagement; patient-initiated antipsychotic discontinuation; and the implementation and impact of Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs). The fellow will join a collaborative team that includes doctoral students, lived-experience co-researchers, and external partners, and will have substantial opportunity to lead manuscripts and develop an independent research trajectory.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and co-author peer-reviewed manuscripts and policy-facing products drawing on study data.
• Design and conduct qualitative and mixed-methods research, including interview and focus group protocol development, data collection, coding, and analysis.
• Contribute to participatory and co-designed research processes, including meaningful collaboration with people with lived experience as co-researchers and advisors.
• Support mixed-methods integration, including the linkage of qualitative findings with quantitative outcome and implementation data.
• Contribute to study coordination, data management, and research infrastructure (e.g., protocols, SOPs, consent and tracking systems) as needed.
• Mentor and support doctoral and lived-experience team members.
• Present findings at conferences and to policy, practice, and community audiences.
• Contribute to grant writing and the development of new proposals.

What We Offer

• Mentorship toward independent research, including support for fellowship and grant applications.
• A collaborative, intellectually engaged lab with strong national and international networks in critical mental health research.
• Substantial first-author and leadership opportunities across an active grant portfolio.
• Competitive salary (consistent with NIH postdoctoral scales) and full University of Pittsburgh benefits.

Social Work-Academic Programs

Assignment Category Part-time temporary

Child Protection Clearances Not Applicable

Required Attachments Cover Letter, Curriculum Vitae, Other (see posting for additional details)