The posting
Job Description
The Position
Mayo Clinic's Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery invites applications for a Career Scientist position in Rochester, Minnesota. This tenure-track-equivalent position is intended for a Ph.D. investigator from a broad range of computational, quantitative, engineering, and data-enabled disciplines to develop and lead an independent, externally funded research program focused on biomedical data science, computational biology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, or related quantitative disciplines applied to cancer and surgical care.
The successful candidate will join a highly collaborative, disease-focused translational research environment with direct integration across basic discovery, artificial intelligence, clinical investigation, population science, and high-volume surgical practice in head and neck oncology. The investigator's work should leverage advanced computational and analytical approaches to interrogate complex, multimodal datasets and generate clinically actionable insights that inform diagnosis, prognosis, treatment selection, therapeutic development, and surgical decision-making.
This recruitment is intentionally aligned with Mayo Clinic's Research Strategic Transformation priorities and Bold. Forward. vision. The successful candidate will be expected to help translate Mayo's unique clinical, molecular, imaging, pathology, biospecimen, outcomes, and real-world data resources into new knowledge, validated tools, and implementation-ready approaches that accelerate discovery and improve care for patients with head and neck diseases and cancer.
Mayo Clinic Platform and Data-Enabled Discovery
A distinguishing opportunity for this position is the ability to leverage Mayo Clinic Platform and related enterprise capabilities to advance discovery, validation, and implementation. Mayo Clinic Platform provides a growing ecosystem for real-world data, analytic tools, data science workspaces, and digital solution development that can support research, innovation, and care transformation. The candidate will be positioned to work with department, AI, informatics, quantitative sciences, and Platform partners to develop scalable, reusable approaches for data-enabled discovery.
The successful investigator may use Mayo Clinic Platform-enabled resources to support cohort discovery, multimodal phenotyping, model development and validation, real-world evidence generation, clinical trial feasibility, digital biomarker development, and translation of predictive models into clinical and operational workflows. This work should be grounded in responsible AI principles, including methodological rigor, transparency, data governance, bias mitigation, reproducibility, and close partnership with clinicians who understand the patient and surgical context.
Research Focus and Expectations
The successful candidate will be an emerging or established leader in biomedical data science with demonstrated expertise in one or more computational, quantitative, or data-enabled disciplines and a record of applying rigorous methods to complex biomedical, healthcare, or research datasets.. Depending on the candidate’s expertise and research program, relevant approaches may include: high-dimensional clinical, molecular, imaging, pathology, surgical, biospecimen-linked, and outcomes data to drive discovery in head and neck cancer and otolaryngology, with an emphasis on translation to clinically meaningful applications.
• Develop and apply artificial intelligence, machine learning, generative AI, computer vision, natural language processing, multimodal foundation models, multi-omic integration, digital pathology, radiomics, predictive modeling, and advanced statistical learning approaches.
• Create clinically meaningful tools and analytical frameworks that support diagnosis, prognosis, risk stratification, treatment response modeling, surgical planning, longitudinal surveillance, and clinical trial development.
• Advance AI-enabled surgical practice by using multimodal data from clinical encounters, imaging, pathology, operative workflows, surgical outcomes, biospecimens, genomics, and electronic health records to improve decision-making and patient outcomes.
• Partner closely with surgeon-scientists, clinician investigators, leaders, data scientists, biostatisticians, AI and informatics experts, and Mayo Clinic Platform teams to design rigorous translational studies and scalable analytic workflows.
• Develop and sustain a portfolio of extramural funding as principal investigator while contributing to large-scale team science, programmatic funding, industry collaborations, and cross-disciplinary initiatives.
• Produce high-impact publications, mentor trainees and junior faculty, contribute to national scientific committees and collaborative networks, and provide educational leadership within Mayo Clinic and the broader scientific community.
ENT and Head and Neck Oncology Environment
The Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery provides a differentiated environment for research that spans children and adults, acute and chronic disease, medical and surgical care, and multidisciplinary management of complex conditions. In head and neck cancer, departmental priorities include advanced diagnostics, early detection, prognostic tools, individualized treatment strategies, novel therapeutics, radiomics, biomarker discovery, genomic and molecular profiling, digital pathology, and improved connection with patients through digital health platforms.
The successful candidate will have opportunities to collaborate with teams investigating tumor microenvironments, methylation markers, circulating tumor DNA, machine learning applied to digitized histology, imaging modalities, surgical outcomes, and precision oncology. The candidate will also contribute to a broader departmental ambition to build data science, statistical programming, and AI-enabled research capacity that strengthens the interface between basic science, clinical care, and surgical innovation.
Otolaryngology Department and Mayo Clinic
The Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery offers a highly collaborative environment for discovery and translation across head and neck oncology. The position is designed to strengthen cross-disciplinary collaboration across clinical care, cancer biology, quantitative science, AI and informatics, and enterprise research infrastructure, with a focus on building research programs that support clinically meaningful discovery and implementation.
Mayo Clinic is top-ranked in more specialties than any other care provider according to U.S. News & World Report. With a 73,000-person workforce, Mayo Clinic cares for more than 1.3 million people each year with serious or complex illnesses from all 50 U.S. states and 130 countries. Mayo Clinic is the largest not-for-profit, multidisciplinary academic medical center in the world with over 4,000 physicians and scientists in an integrated multi-campus system spanning the globe.
The unified mission at Mayo Clinic is to provide the best patient care, backed by expertise and supported by innovation in education, research and practice, to bring hope and healing in times of need. Mayo Clinic supports a vibrant and diverse research enterprise, with programs in basic, translational, clinical, population, and data sciences, and provides state-of-the-art laboratories, shared resource facilities, integrated health record resources, and collaboration with leading specialists across disciplines.
As we work together to put the needs of the patient first, Mayo Clinic is also dedicated to employees, investing in a highly competitive compensation package with substantial long-term institutional and departmental support for salary, personnel, equipment, and travel, as well as a competitive startup package designed to support immediate and continued success. Additional benefits for faculty include intramural funding opportunities for research and innovation and an outstanding, comprehensive benefits package.
Application Materials
Applications should include a full CV/bibliography, statement of research interests, statement of contributions to equity, inclusion and diversity, and the names and contact information of five references.
Qualifications
Candidates must have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in biomedical data science, computational biology, biostatistics, bioinformatics, computer science, quantitative medicine, engineering, applied mathematics, or a related quantitative discipline. Candidates should have demonstrated scientific productivity, clear potential for sustained independent extramural funding, and a commitment to collaborative translational research in cancer, surgery, and data-enabled clinical discovery.
Relevant expertise may include artificial intelligence and machine learning, multimodal data integration, real-world data, digital pathology, imaging analytics, multi-omics, predictive modeling, clinical decision support, digital biomarker development, or other computational and quantitative approaches. Experience working in interdisciplinary research teams and translating discoveries into clinically meaningful applications is highly desirable. Prior research experience in head and neck oncology, otolaryngology, cancer, or surgical care is preferred but not required. Candidates whose previous work has focused on other disease areas or clinical domains are encouraged to apply and should describe how they would translate their expertise into a collaborative research program in head and neck disease and cancer. Academic rank at Mayo Clinic will be commensurate with experience and qualifications.
Position Support and Funding Expectations
This benefactor-funded position includes a generous startup package and committed institutional and departmental support during an initial multi-year period. The package is intended to provide the personnel, equipment, data and computational resources, and other infrastructure needed to launch a successful independent research program. During this initial period, the investigator will be expected to establish a sustainable portfolio of federal, foundation, industry, and other extramural funding. Following the initial support period, the investigator will be expected to support a substantial and increasing share of their salary and research program through external funding, consistent with Mayo Clinic policies.
