The Vanderbilt Eye Institute (VEI) of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Vanderbilt Health Network is a national leader in clinical, research, and educational initiatives related to ophthalmology and visual sciences. The VEI is home to the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, which is consistently ranked by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research among the top 10 departments in the nation for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. The VEI is also the hub for the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center (VVRC), which includes some 50 faculty cross schools and campuses. The VVRC is funded in part by a National Eye Institute P30 Center grant, which offsets costs at many of Vanderbilt’s excellent, cutting-edge shared resources, including the Nikon Center of Excellence. It also houses our NEI T32 training grant, which supports a rich research environment for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. The VEI research enterprise is attractively situated between the VUMC hospitals and the VU campus, facilitating collaboration between ophthalmologists and faculty in the School of Engineering and the VU Institute of Data Science within our new College of Computing. The VEI clinical enterprise is also robust, with close to 200,000 patients visits annually, and a growing portfolio of clinical trials and industry-sponsored research. VUMC itself is a national leader in personalized, genome-based diagnosis and treatment and houses the nation’s largest health system DNA bio bank (BioVU) and medical imaging collection (ImageVU). Consistently among the nation’s highest ranked research institutions, VUMC boasts over $1 billion annually in extramural support from federal, industry, and private partners, including a National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Clinical Translational Science Award that supports the Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR). Under this umbrella are many shared resources and programs for career development, including Edge for Scholars, which provides workshops, grant reviews, and other initiatives for ensuring successful progression.

The VUMC is located on the same campus as Vanderbilt University, which is located just minutes from downtown Nashville, TN. Nashville is a vibrant and growing city with surrounding neighborhoods that have their own unique spirit and a strong sense of community. In addition to the many venues available to enjoy a wide range of music, as expected for the “Music City”, the city also houses its own Opera company, Ballet company, and Orchestra. It also boasts major league football (with a new stadium), hockey, and soccer, and minor league baseball. For those who enjoy being active in the great outdoors, there are many parks and biking trails within Nashville and just a short drive away there are many opportunities for hiking, biking, canoeing, kayaking, and camping. Within a few hours of Nashville there are innumerous state parks, waterfalls, Mammoth Caves national park, and the Smoky Mountains. Finally, our airport, located just 20 minutes from campus, has direct flights to most locations within the U.S. and to several international locations.

The VEI is actively recruiting early to mid-career Investigator track (tenure eligible) faculty in several areas of focus. These include experts who wish to lead large-scale and advanced analytical studies on healthcare data to improve eye care, in partnership with our world-class Department of Biomedical Informatics. Also, we seek experts conducting cutting-edge mechanistic and clinically translatable research focused on pathogenesis of retinal and optic nerve degenerations and development of therapeutic interventions based on neuronal protection, repair, and regeneration. The VEI research laboratories are attractively situated between the VUMC hospitals and the VU campus, facilitating collaborations between clinicians, engineers, and other researchers. The ideal candidate will have a strong track record of research publication, current federal funding and hold a PhD, MD or both.

Contact Information:

Interested applicants may apply through the link below or email Tonia Rex.

Please provide a cover letter and updated CV.

Tonia S. Rex, PhD

tonia.rex@vumc.org

Research Director

Vice Chair for B&T Research

Marlene & Spencer Hays Director

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences

FALCON member, VU Institute of National Security

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Apply URL: https://apply.interfolio.com/196306