Job Summary

The Transplant Surgery Research Fellow, supported by the University of Michigan Section of Transplantation and the UM Health Transplant Center, is a new position managed in the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan. This exciting new program is designed to support research education for general surgery residents interested in a career in abdominal transplant surgery or postdoctoral scholars with an interest in organ transplant policy and outcomes. The program will offer comprehensive health services research training tailored to the specific subject matter and methodologic interests of the Fellow. The program will provide access to a formal research education curriculum run through the established fellowship program at the Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy (CHOP). 

The program is designed to provide broad exposure to an array of databases including clinical registries from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) and United Network for Organ Sharing UNOS) in addition to Medicare and Medicaid claims. Our team also has extensive methodologic experience, including natural experiments/econometrics and various machine learning techniques. The Fellow will have the opportunity to collaborate with the broader CHOP community of funded surgeon-scientists, economists, sociologists, and qualitative researchers. A specific longitudinal goal of the program is to create faculty-level research startup plan.

Trainees will be selected competitively by the program leadership and existing transplant research team members. Special emphasis will be devoted to recruitment of under-represented in medicine candidates. This training program will be embedded within the rich research environment of the University of Michigan, including a highly collegial and interdisciplinary surgical health services research community, excellent core resources for biomedical research, and strong resources for clinical and health services research. 

Who We Are

The Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy (CHOP) recently celebrated its 20th anniversary as one of the premier health services research organizations in the country. CHOP comprises more than 80 member researchers with diverse backgrounds and research portfolios. CHOP is home to 13 R01-funded scientists with annual extramural funding exceeding $30 million. Last year our Center published more than 500 manuscripts, many in high-impact journals like NEJM, JAMA, JAMA Surgery, and Health Affairs. The CHOP research fellowship continues to be the key focus of the Center, with year round programming, a research bootcamp each July, and Friday work in progress sessions that routinely draw more than 50 faculty, residents, and students to discuss important work by the fellows and their mentors. 

The UM Health Transplant Center is one of the oldest and largest in the nation, having performed over 13,000 transplants since 1964. The Center operates 8 adult and pediatric solid organ transplant programs and evaluates more than 2,000 candidates annually. The Transplant Center Research Office, established in the 1980s, employs more than 8 full time staff and supports clinical trials, prospective cohort research, and biorepository-based translational research among transplant candidates and recipients. 

The Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan is consistently ranked as among the nation?s top medical centers for patient care, safety, and research. The 884-bed medical center currently employs 2,700 faculty, cares for ~48,000 inpatients per year and provides approximately 2.3 million clinic visits and 54,000 surgeries per year. Data for research is extracted from our Electronic health record (EHR) data and numerous other data sources into our Research Data Warehouse (RDW), a secure and compliant research database. Within the RDW, data for over four million unique patients are stored, including >374 million lab results, >155 million diagnoses, >62 million procedures, >17 million medication orders and a repository for waveform data recorded by continuous physiologic monitors with operating rooms and intensive care units.

The Transplant Surgery Research Fellowship offers a competitive salary and benefits package. This individual will report directly to the Transplant Surgery Research Fellowship Program Director.

Required Qualifications*

The transplant surgery research fellow position means a post-graduate research residency position which:

• Shall be a graduate of an accredited medical school and shall remain in excellent academic standing with permission from Program Director and Chairman to apply for dedicated research fellowship.
• Shall be the equivalent to a full-time position comprising of no less than forty hours per week.
• Shall be completed in 24-month time frame as structured by usual fellowship standards, starting July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027.
• Shall exceed the minimum standards required by a residency review committee in the specialty the research fellow has trained or is currently training.
• Shall be filled by a surgical research fellow who will receive formalized instruction in health services/clinical research, including biostatistics, manuscript preparation, research ethics, grant writing and regulatory guidelines. 
• Shall be supervised by a sponsor-mentor team comprised of extramurally funded investigators at all stages of their careers.
• Shall be filled by a research fellow who is: a United States citizen, national or permanent resident of the United States a graduate of medical school and currently enrolled in a surgical residency program.

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Background Screening

Michigan Medicine conducts background screening and pre-employment drug testing on job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent job offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background screenings.  Background screenings are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Report Act. Pre-employment drug testing applies to all selected candidates, including new or additional faculty and staff appointments, as well as transfers from other U-M campuses.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days.  The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.

U-M EEO/AA Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.