Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a growing public health crisis that has ravaged our country and our state, as evidenced by rises in deaths of despair, including suicide, drug and alcohol poisoning, and alcoholic liver disease and cirrhosis, over the past decade. The demand for effective precision-based SUD treatments has never been greater, yet their implementation is limited, hindered by difficulties in translating preclinical research into clinical practice and the slow adoption of successful methods in community settings.

This cluster hiring initiative aims to bridge the gap between preclinical research and clinical practice, as well as between clinical practice and community implementation. It builds on UNC’s strengths in public health, computational medicine, and neuromodulation, adding new capacities and analytical methodologies, to create a comprehensive, cutting-edge approach to understanding and treating SUD.

UNC will hire up to four faculty members across the Departments of Psychiatry, Health Behavior, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurosurgery Medicine, the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, to form a cross-disciplinary team focused on addiction research. The hires spans domains from behavioral science and clinical research to neuroengineering:

• Health behavior: Expertise in implementation science, interventions, and community-engaged scholarship translating discoveries into community-based programs and evidence-based policies at the local, state, or national level, especially related to alcohol and/or substance use (e.g., opioids). Background in public health, health behavior.
• Clinician-Scientist: Expertise to develop and maintain a clinical research program related to alcohol and/or substance use and dependence that bridges basic science and clinical addiction medicine leading to innovative approaches in the care of patients with SUD. Background in psychiatry.
• Neuroengineering: Expertise in biomedical neuroscience and neuroengineering with interests in data collection from the brain, analysis of neurological data, and approaches to modulate the brain function or interface with the brain. Interest in applying tools and analysis to Substance Use Disorder as well as other neurological conditions and pathologies. Background in biomedical engineering, neuroscience, neurosurgery, or a related field.
• Biomolecular data science and drug discovery: Expertise to help ingest, curate, and procure multi-scale data to identify and develop new pharmacotherapies for SUD. Background in biological or chemical domains with strong core expertise in machine learning and AI.

Each candidate hired will have their home in one or more of the participating departments listed above. Candidates will be expected to build an extramurally funded research program and contribute to department and University service, teaching, and clinical service (if applicable) according to relevant departmental expectations. See the position posting for details.

Program Details

All hires are eligible to participate in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research’s Catalyst Program for Faculty. This program will provide tailored onboarding, professional training and development, mentoring, networking experiences, research development, and translation opportunities, and other benefits, to help ensure their individual success and the success of the cohort. The Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Eshelman Innovation will provide seed grants and infrastructure/expertise to accelerate translation of research into drug candidates, technologies, industry partnerships and startups that will impact patient health.