Postdoctoral Research Associate, Pathology & Lab Medicine

This Postdoctoral Research Associate, Pathology & Lab Medicine position is with University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. Contribute to highly impactful, extramurally funded research programs at the interface of oral / head and neck cancer pathology and neurodegenerative-disease neuropathology. Contribute to the tissue-resource infrastructure, digital pathology operations, image-analysis workflows, cross-cohort tissue metadata, and translational biomarker projects that integrate oral/head and neck pathology expertise with neurodegenerative-disease neuropathology. Develop integrative dental–neuropathology projects — for example, oral–brain axis biology, periodontal-disease contributions to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, systemic-inflammation biomarkers shared across oral and CNS tissue, and cross-tissue application of digital and computational pathology methodology. Contribute expertise in biobanking of primary tumor tissues, tissue bank operations including distribution of tissues, tissue-based molecular pathology to institutional shared resources, and cross-disease biomarker discovery pipelines. Maintain a record of impactful research publications spanning oral/head and neck cancer pathology and, over time, integrative dental–neuropathology work. Contribute to "team science" based interdisciplinary research grants and projects, including center-scale mechanisms (P30, U54, SPORE, UM1), the University's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center environment, and through the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Conduct independent and collaborative research focused on tissue-based molecular biomarkers of disease progression in oral cavity, head and neck, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer specimens. Develop research programs exploring oral-brain axis biology, systemic inflammation, periodontal disease and Alzheimers disease and related dementias (ADRD), HIV-related cancers, and other cross-disease translational research areas. Apply tissue-based molecular methodologies across oral and central nervous system specimens. Utilize digital pathology, computational pathology, genomic, and transcriptomic approaches to analyze tissue cohorts for translational biomarker discovery projects. Contribute to tissue biobanking and biospecimen resource development, including tissue banking infrastructure and metadata management. Collaborate with multidisciplinary investigators across pathology, neuroscience, cancer biology, and related fields. Pursue mentored grant development and contribute to collaborative research initiatives including manuscript preparation and publications.