Tenure-eligible Associate or Full Professor & Research Leader in Developmental Health Equity

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The Center for Childhood Resilience (CCR) in the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago (Lurie Children’s) and Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences (DevSci), Northwestern University invite applications for a tenure eligible faculty leadership position (associate-to-full professor) with a focus on developmental health equity. This is an ideal position for senior leaders who relish an opportunity to cross-fertilize applied and scientific communities and to catalyze novel initiatives to amplify the impact, reach and scalability of pediatric research supporting mental health and wellbeing of diverse children, families and communities. We seek an exceptional mid-to-advanced career innovator, investigator and leader, with a history of robust extramurally funded research portfolio and scholarly productivity in pediatric mental health equity research with a developmental lens, as well as experience bringing diverse constituencies together to advance developmental health equity. The ideal candidate will lead and innovate in community-engaged research design, methods and implementation in a manner that centers on the diverse lived experience of young children and families. This includes a broad focus on early identification and prevention of mental health risk and promotion of social-emotional wellbeing as well as multigenerational pathways to developmental psychopathology. We welcome individuals from a broad range of disciplines and perspectives including developmental psychology, child psychiatry and developmental psychopathology, human development and family studies, public health science, community engaged participatory research, health services, prevention science and implementation science and pediatrics. Those leaders whose work emphasizes a health equity lens across their area of specialization will be prioritized. We strongly encourage people from communities traditionally underrepresented in science to apply including individuals from racial/ethnic minoritized communities and with disabilities. This joint recruitment is an inaugural leadership role that builds on a longstanding partnership between Lurie Children’s CCR and the DevSci Institute. The recruitment reflects their joint objective to conduct transformative research on strategies to improve developmental health equity in communities, with emphasis on ensuring early mental health so that diverse families can thrive during the early childhood period and prevent long-term adverse outcomes. The unique partnership between Lurie Children’s CCR and DevSci for this newly created role will provide an outstanding platform for scientific partnerships by a recognized leader in developmental health equity applied research spanning the Lurie Children’s CCR clinical-community and DevSci University-wide enterprises. This position will build on existing strengths and create new opportunities, deepening partnerships within and across the units. The candidate will lead, collaborate, and orchestrate new scientific and training opportunities. A critical consideration will be the extent to which the candidate has a collaborative orientation and scholarly focus that will serve as a scientific bridge between the two units. The objective for leadership in CCR will be to lead and support research developing and studying the effectiveness and implementation of mental health interventions in schools and other community organizations. In DevSci, leadership emphasis will be on strengthening the developmental health equity research portfolio promoting mental, social-emotional health, learning and wellbeing, and advance training and career development programs to strengthen inclusive excellence in the developmental sciences. The candidate will serve as Lurie Children’s CCR Research Director and DevSci Associate Director-roles that are highly synergistic. These joint roles are designed to advance the science and practice of community engaged early identification and prevention and novel training paradigms for the “next gen” scientists and leaders. This leader will work closely within CCR to lead and support research developing and studying the effectiveness and implementation of mental health interventions in schools and other community organizations. This leader will also advance DevSci’s developmental health equity research portfolio promoting mental, social-emotional health, learning and wellbeing, and advance training and career development programs to strengthen inclusive excellence in the developmental sciences. This position will build on existing strengths and create new opportunities, deepening partnerships within and across the units. The candidate will lead, collaborate, and orchestrate new scientific and training opportunities. A critical consideration will be the extent to which the candidate has a collaborative orientation and scholarly focus that will serve as a scientific bridge between the two units. As with all faculty in the Pritzker Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Lurie Children’s, the academic home for the position will be in the Division of Child Psychiatry and Behavioral Health within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Candidates will have to opportunity to mentor graduate students, interns, fellows and postdoctoral fellows via a variety of relevant programs including an NIMH funded “Mental Health, Earlier” postdoctoral T32, the DevSci graduate cluster and a host of Lurie Children’s clinical research training programs. Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging CCR and DevSci are committed to supporting faculty to work in an increasingly diverse society by promoting equity and justice for all individuals, and actively working to eliminate barriers and obstacles. Equity is critical to their shared mission of advancing excellence in academic programs, research and practice. Both are committed to community-engaged research that addresses inequities and aims to transform health within its ecological context. As our healthcare and academic institutions serve increasingly diverse constituencies, it is vital to elucidate the ways in which differences in gender, class, race, ethnicity, culture and other identities can both divide us and also offer us better ways of thinking and working. Center for Childhood Resilience (CCR) of Lurie Children’s Hospital. CCR is committed to increasing access to high-quality mental health services and prevention programming for children and youth throughout Illinois and nationwide (https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/specialties-conditions/center-for-childhood-resilience/). This commitment is achieved through professional development, innovation, investigation, implementation and advocacy within a public health framework. CCR believes all kids of all ages should have access to adults who can address their mental health needs. Since 2004, CCR has built skills of adults in schools and youth serving agencies to foster resilience in the face of adversity through promotion, prevention and intervention. Through innovative, sustainable, culturally attuned and evidence-based strategies, CCR engages schools, school districts and other youth-serving organizations through a public health approach to address the impact of trauma and promote mental health and wellness. In addition, CCR evaluates emerging best practices and collaborates with policy makers and communities to promote system change to reduce health disparities and promote mental health and wellness where kids live, learn and play. Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences (DevSci). Founded in 2016, Northwestern’s Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences (DevSci) seeks to accelerate translation from discovery to evidence-based developmentally informed programs and interventions. Its’ “Healthier, Earlier” mission drives innovative research to improve outlooks for children, youth and families with diverse lived experience as early as possible in the life-course beginning even before birth. DevSci is a university-wide institute spanning Northwestern’s biomedical and life sciences campuses and engaging over 300 faculty and trainees within an engaged and dynamic developmental sciences community. DevSci achieves maximal impact by pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge via bridging typically disparate disciplines and building partnerships with diverse communities. DevSci’s partnerships with LCH, community providers and a host of allied specialized Centers, including the Center for Community Health and Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science, ensure economies of scale and amplification of impact beyond traditional boundaries. DevSci scientists conduct groundbreaking research funded by a host of federal institutes, including NIDCD, NIMH, NSF, NIDA and NHLBI, and grant-making agencies. Its Training Center supports a certificate-granting graduate student cluster, an NIMH funded postdoctoral T32 and summer undergraduate research training. DevSci also advances novel and high impact applications of developmental methods via its Neurodevelopmental Assessment and Training Core, providing infrastructure and technical assistance for a range of methodologies. To apply: When applying, please upload a CV and cover letter describing your interest and alignment with the position.

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