Postdoctoral fellows

Seeking 1-3 new postdoctoral fellows to begin with start dates in 2026.

The Pelham Lab at UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry is seeking multiple Postdoctoral Fellows with start dates in 2026.

This position is ideal for a candidate seeking an academic research career and especially who may wish to seek a faculty position at UCSD after completion of the fellowship.

The previous two postdocs in this position both secured tenure-track faculty positions in departments of psychology.

The fellow will be funded on several NIH-funded research projects investigating externalizing psychopathology, substance use, and/or parenting of children and adolescents.

The fellow’s primary responsibilities will be writing manuscripts and conducting statistical analyses. The fellow is expected to develop and lead manuscripts consistent with their own interests and falling within the Scientific Aims of the projects.

The fellow will NOT have significant duties pertaining to primary data collection.

Environment:

The fellow will be working in one of the premiere psychology/psychiatry research environments in the world. The UCSD Department of Psychiatry ranks 4th in the United States for total research funding, has more than 200 faculty members including national experts in many domains, and devotes extensive resources to postdoctoral training. The fellow may participate in an annual Psychiatry Grant Writing Seminar and/or career development award (K) writing group; and attend speaker series through Psychiatry Grand Rounds and the Center for Human Development; and attend UCSD's biweekly Addiction Seminar, hosted by a NIAAA-funded T32 training program in alcohol research;

Also, our lab space is an 8-minute drive from the beach. 

Grantwriting:

The fellow’s participation in grantwriting is optional but encouraged. Training in grantwriting is provided by Dr. Pelham as well as senior colleagues in the department. Prior postdocs in the lab have been very successful at securing extramural grants (>$1.3m to date).

Pathways to a faculty position at UCSD are available for fellows who secure external funding. The School of Medicine has an exceptional track record of mentoring postdoctoral fellows into funded faculty positions. For example, more than 20 faculty members at UCSD hold active research career development (K) awards from NIDA/NIAAA.

Clinical licensure:

UC San Diego is considered an exempt setting by the California Board of Psychology (https://www.psychology.ca.gov/applicants/index.shtml). Completion of supervised clinical research as part of this fellowship may count toward supervised professional experience (SPE) hours for clinical licensure in the State of California.

The position includes a generous benefits package (medical, dental, vision). See https://postdoc.ucsd.edu/postdocs/benefits-services.html for information about benefits. 

Required qualifications:

• Doctoral level degree in clinical psychology or related discipline

Preferred qualifications:

• Evidence of research productivity including first-author publications

• Training and experience in substance use/addiction

• Training and experience in conduct problems/delinquency

• Training and experience in child/adolescent psychology/psychiatry

• Training and experience in statistical analysis and research design

• Competencies with statistical software such as R or Mplus