Call for Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine ”la Caixa” Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships

Programme description

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is an international leader in medical and scientific training, biomedical research, and patient care.

It is the medical school for the Mount Sinai Health System, which includes seven hospital campuses, and has more than 5,000 faculty and nearly 2,000 students, residents and fellows. Their unwavering pursuit of intellectual exchange, breakthrough research, and multidisciplinary teamwork propels them ever forward in biomedical discoveries and advances. Their professionals pursue ideas that often challenge conventional wisdom to revolutionise the practice of medicine and produce dramatically better outcomes for patients. They make big, bold bets by investing in radical free thinkers and technology at the cutting edge.

Their NIH funding is among the highest in the United States. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has built inspirational leadership, a comprehensive infrastructure, strategic affiliates, and a solid support system, as it trains health care leaders for the 21st century amid the vibrant and diverse city of New York.

Aligned with this philosophy, ”la Caixa” Foundation offers a postdoctoral fellowship, with a maximum salary of USD 50,000 a year (including taxes), for a period of two years in New York. A talented Spanish researcher will be awarded a fellowship to carry out their research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai on the promotion of health and healthy lifestyle habits relating to cardiovascular diseases, mentored by Dr Valentín Fuster, Physician-in-Chief at The Mount Sinai Medical Hospital and Director of Mount Sinai Heart. This postdoctoral researcher will benefit from the experience of top level professionals and the multidisciplinary atmosphere of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

This programme for a two-year fellowship is competitive and will select a Spanish researcher with a solid background of academic excellence, an outstanding PhD thesis, proven scientific productivity and evidence of potential in their research path.

  • Programme structure

    ”la Caixa” Foundation is opening a call for applications for a postdoctoral fellowship for Spanish researchers that have obtained a PhD in the last 8 years

    The scope of research of the postdoctoral fellowship is focused on projects to promote health and healthy lifestyle habits relating to cardiovascular diseases.

    The aim of the research team is to reduce the future risk of obesity, heart attacks, strokes and type 2 diabetes, both in children and in their parents or carers.

    Therefore, the chosen candidate will be responsible for working together with local teams to measure/assess the impact of an integrated approach to the promotion of cardiovascular health among pre-school children and their carers.

    Among other tasks, this will include:

    - Assisting in the design and follow-up of the trials.

    - Assessing the health promotion interventions.

    - Guaranteeing data protection and compliance with data protection and transfer laws.

    - Devising plans for and assessing the participants involved in the study.

    - Managing research data; helping to reply to queries related to the institutions financing the research projects, requesting programme updates.

    - Preparing publications for submission to high-impact journals.

    - Organising and giving presentations.

    - Collaborating in subsidy applications for the different projects.

    The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai offers a unique, multidisciplinary environment which enables its postdoctoral researchers to conduct top level research projects in a wide range of areas using state-of-the-art research facilities.

  • Benefits of the programme

    - Access to listings of apartments offered by the institution, which are subsidised and located near to the facilities.

    - Possibility to attend a large number of courses, conferences and training courses.

    - English lessons.

    - Large international community.

    - Full access to all state-of-the-art research facilities and support systems on campus.

    - Subsidised medical insurance (depending on the policy, amounting to USD 2,000-2,500/year).

    - Paid maternity leave and holidays.

    - Complimentary visa services.

    - Recreation Office discounts (competitively-priced tickets for activities, sporting and cultural events, travel, etc.).

  • Selection criteria

    The selection process is based on:

    - Excellent career path based on previous publications and letters of recommendation.

    - Outstanding PhD thesis.

    - Proven scientific productivity.

    - Evidence of potential in the research path of the candidate.

  • Eligibility 

    - Researchers of Spanish nationality under 40 years of age at the time of applying for the fellowship.

    - Candidates must have submitted their PhD thesis before starting this fellowship.

    - Candidates must have done a PhD in Life Sciences.

    - Candidates must start the postdoctoral fellowship within 8 years of obtaining their PhD.

    - Previous experience in the field of Epidemiology and Public Health, would be an advantage, especially relating to prevention and health promotion projects.

  • Application process 

    Candidates must fill out the following application form – call for Proposals Postdoc MountSinai in English and send it in PDF format.

    Candidates must provide the following documentation in digital format, numbered as indicated in the list below:

    - Letter of intent and motivation.

    - Two recommendation letters written in Spanish or English.

    - Full CV in any format.

    - National identity document or Spanish passport.

    - ID/passport-type photograph.

    - PhD certificate, issued by the corresponding accredited body. The date of defence of the PhD thesis must appear in this document. Alternatively a document may be submitted from the university certifying these details.

    - Accreditation of the level of English, issued by an accredited body.

    - Accreditation of other languages, where applicable, issued by an accredited body.

    The application form and documentation mentioned above must be sent in digital format in a single email under the reference POSTDOCTORAL APPLICATION FBLC-ISMMS to: [email protected] by 1 p.m. CET (Central European Time), Friday, November 30, 2018.

  • Selection process 

    One researcher will be selected to carry out a postdoctoral fellowship with a duration of 2 years.

    The selection will involve the following process:

    - Interested candidates are to send their full application with all required documents in a single email under the reference POSTDOCTORAL APPLICATION FBLC-ISMMS to [email protected]

    - Full applications received by the deadline will be assessed by a Selection Committee formed by experts from Mount Sinai and ”la Caixa” Foundation. The finalists may be requested to attend a personal interview in Barcelona between December 1 and 15, should the Selection Committee consider it necessary.

    - The selected candidate will be approved by those responsible at Mount Sinai and ”la Caixa” Foundation.

  • Calendar

    - Call opening: Friday, November 2, 2018.

    - Deadline for applications: Friday, November 30, 2018 before 1 p.m. CET (Central European Time). 

    - Information of results: Thursday, December 20, 2018

    - Duration of the fellowship: from January 1, 2019 to 31 December 31, 2020. During this time the researcher must establish their place of work in New York.

    Fellows are to draw up interim reports and an annual report on their activities, which shall be submitted to ”la Caixa” Foundation.