Post-doctoral researcher in Natural Language Processing for Health Data Science

The position is embedded within the department of cardiology and primarily focusses at the development, clinical evaluation and implementation of natural language processing techniques, with a specific focus on the use of large language models (LLMs) for different tasks. Specifically, you will contribute to several running projects, focused at 1) LLM-based structuring of clinical notes for optimized data extraction, 2) evaluation of LLM-based guideline adherence assessment, and 3) development and testing of explainable AI-enabled clinical decision support tools. These projects are embedded in the EU Horizon DataTools4Heart, AI4HF and AIXPERT projects, which focus on the development of trustworthy and explainable AI tools in cardiology. Specifically, DataTools4Heart focusses on the development of tools for the re-use of electronic health care data for research purposes. AI4HF focusses on the development of trustworthy AI models for clinical implementation in heart failure patients and AIXPERT focusses on the development and evaluation of trustworthy LLM-based systems for clinical decision support tools.

Additionally, the successful candidate will directly collaborate with startup company HealthSage AI that developed their own Large Language Model for clinical workflow optimalisation. During the project, the LLM model will be optimized and evaluated in the context of different clinical workflows, including both out-patient and (acute) in-patient care settings.

We are looking for a post-doctoral candidate who is eager to design, implement, and evaluate responsible NLP methods in the context of the different projects. You will propose state-of-the-art LLMs and will develop Dutch and/or multilingual linguistic resources with a strong focus on healthcare applications in the field of cardiology. You will actively participate in the clinical evaluation and implementation of these models and work together with other post-doctoral researchers across Europe. You will have the opportunity to apply statistical and machine learning techniques to a range of clinically relevant problems in cardiology, which will be defined and discussed together with medical specialists.

The successful candidate will join a cross-disciplinary team consisting of computer scientists, medical professionals, PhD students, and post-doctoral researchers and will also have the opportunity to work together with informaticians and software engineers within Amsterdam UMC. The preferred background combines technical knowledge and strong clinical background, to be able to design and carry out clinical evaluation and implementation studies, supported by technical researchers. You will provide efficient and scalable implementations of your methods, and will integrate them with popular open-source systems.

We are looking for a highly motivated post-doctoral researcher with a strong technological and clinical background, preferably with knowledge of natural language processing systems.

Prerequisites:

• PhD degree in machine learning, artificial intelligence, medical informatics, statistics, data science, or related fields, combined with strong clinical background;
• Hands-on experience in natural language processing, machine learning, medical informatics and/or data science;
• Hands-on experience in clinical evaluation and implementation studies;
• Highly motivated with a creative and independent mindset;
• Programming skills in Python and experience implementing machine learning systems (e.g., scikit-learn, PyTorch);
• Capable of working in multidisciplinary environments;
• Good command of English, both spoken and written.

Not required, but helpful:

• Experience with prediction modelling, data harmonization and ontologies;
• Experience with clinical data and/or cardiology;
• Contribution to open-source projects.

• A flying start to your career in scientific research.
• Plenty of room for your drive to shape tomorrow's healthcare.
• Working on large-scale and in-house research, with motivated colleagues from all over the world.
• You will be employed by Amsterdam UMC Research BV.
• Fully-funded post-doctoral position: we offer a contract for one year (12 months) with the intention to extend for another 24 months, a total of 3 years.
• Salary scale 10: € 3.493 to € 5.504 gross based on full-time employment (depending on education and experience) and a year-end bonus of 8.3%. Calculate your net salary here.
• Holiday hours: 190,4 per year for fulltime and a possibility to save additional hours.
• Pension accrual with BeFrank, a modern, comprehensible and fairly priced pension.
• For >7 km each way, 100% reimbursement for public transport travel costs and, for private transport, €0.18 per km up to a maximum of 40 km each way.
• Do you prefer walking or cycling? Take advantage of our good bike scheme. Moreover, you will receive a reimbursement of €0.18 per km.

Watch this video with more information about joining Amsterdam UMC Research BV.

You will be appointed in both the Department of Medical Informatics and the Amsterdam Center for Computation Cardiology at Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam. You will closely collaborate with members of both departments. You will be working in team together with dr. Stephan van der Zwaard, dr. Noman Dormosh, dr. Marcel Alberti, dr. Machteld Boonstra, and prof. Folkert Asselbergs.

Dr. Van der Zwaard is the clinical data architect, focusing on the re-use of EHR data for research purposes and implementing such pipelines within Amsterdam UMC. Dr. Dormosh is a post-doctoral researcher focusing on the clinical application of LLMs. Dr. Alberti is the co-founder of HealthSage AI leading the scientific team within HealthSage AI focusing on the implementation, optimization and evaluation of the HealthSage AI Large Language Model. Dr. Boonstra is a post-doctoral researcher with a background in technical medicine, expertise in electrocardiographic imaging and interest in multi-modal AI. Prof. Asselbergs is a cardiologist and interested in precision medicine using linked data sources such as wearable information and routine care data obtained from electronic health records including free text.

Within different consortia consortium you will collaborate with several clinical centers from all over Europe such as the University of Barcelona (Spain), Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (Spain), Athena Research Centre (Greece) and several SMEs: HealthSage AI (The Netherlands), Lynkeus Srl (Italy), Software Research & Development Corporation (Turkey), Kyklos (GB) and Translated Srl (Italy).

There is room for the individual researcher to gain international experience. In addition to gaining medical and health informatics expertise, we consider personal development important, also outside the traditional frameworks of conducting research. Diversity, room for personal input, autonomy and energizing work are keywords that characterize the group.

Amsterdam UMC Research BV supports non-profit scientific research. In doing so, we provide researchers with everything they need to excel. Our principal investigators (PIs) and project leaders offer support in the field of project management, finance and human resources. In medical scientific research projects, legal support is also provided.

Watch the video to find out more.

During the publication period, applications will be handled continuously. If the vacancy is filled, it will be closed prematurely. The start of the project is planned for April 2025.

Do you have any questions, or do you require additional information? Please contact dr. Machteld Boonstra, post-doctoral researcher, via email m.j.boonstra@amsterdamumc.nl.

For more information about the application procedure, please contact Chey Edwards, Recruitment advisor, via c.i.edwards@amsterdamumc.nl.

A reference check, screening and hiring test may be part of the procedure. Read here whether that applies to you. If you join us, we ask you for a VOG (Certificate of Good Conduct).

Internal candidates will be given priority over external candidates in case of equal suitability.

Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.