Position Description

RESEARCH POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATE
DIVISION OF NUTIRITIONAL SCIENCES
CORNELLL UNIVERSITY

Seeking a public health nutrition research postdoctoral scholar to work on several projects in both the Leak Research Group (LRG) and the Cornell Action Research Collaborative (ARC). This position will be based in New York City (NYC) and report to Tashara M. Leak, PhD, RDN, Associate Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences (https://www.human.cornell.edu/people/tml226) and Co-Director of ARC (https://arc.bctr.cornell.edu/).

The LRG is committed to improving the nutrition and health of communities with limited resources and/or from racial/ethnic minoritized backgrounds, with a special emphasis on working with adolescents. The overall aims of LRG are listed below. 

1.     To advance our understanding of sociodemographic disparities in diet and obesity-related outcomes among adolescents, and factors that influence health behaviors.

2.     To design, implement, and evaluate culturally inclusive, theory-informed community-based interventions that aim to improve diet and obesity-related outcomes among urban adolescents from racial/ethnic minority and low-income backgrounds.

3.     To use dissemination and implementation approaches to sustain and scale evidence-based community-based interventions, and to translate research into practice.

The mission of ARC is to develop, implement, and evaluate equitable and sustainable research-practice-policy partnerships that can generate solutions to improve the lives of communities that are too often neglected. A primary focus is addressing food insecurity across New York State. Our members approach these partnerships from multiple disciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches–we apply whichever approaches are most relevant for the project at hand. We involve community partners at all phases of the project (i.e., from study design to dissemination of findings). The overarching goal is for these projects to inform interventions and public policies, especially policies that support the well-being of marginalized populations. 

A brief overview of some of the studies is below:

1)   The Advanced Cooking Education (ACE) 4-H After School Club: ACE is a 12-week 4-H after school club for 7^th and 8^th grade students at NYC schools that receive Title 1 funding (federal funds given to low-income serving schools). Each week participants will meet one day after school for a wellness and professional development session (mindfulness, exposure to careers in food and nutrition, nutrition lesson) and bi-weekly they will engage in a self-guided culinary session at home (prepare an ethnic, plant-based meal). To learn more visit https://www.aceprogramnyc.com/.

2)  The Double Up Foods Bucks New York (DUFBNY): In partnership with the Field and Fork Network, we evaluate the implementation of DUFBNY where households with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits receive an incentive when they purchase fruits and vegetables. We are evaluating various modalities of DUFBNY (e.g., community support agriculture, online shopping). To learn more visit https://doubleupnys.com/ and https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/11/nys-families-access-more-fresh-produce-8m-usda-grant.

This is a full time, possible 1-2 days remote per week, and 1-year appointment based in NYC (possibility of renewal). Candidates should be based in or have the capacity to commute to and around NYC (especially Manhattan and Brooklyn).  Estimated starting date would be July 1, 2026 (although this may be somewhat flexible).

Knowledge and Skills:
Required

• Experience collecting quantitative (e.g., surveys) and/or qualitative (e.g., interviews, focus groups) data from individuals in limited resource communities.
• Experience with data collection/entry software (e.g., Qualtrics, REDCap, NVivo).
• Experience with statistical software (e.g., STATA, SAS, SPSS, R).
• Ability to take initiative and manage multiple activities with minimal supervision.
• Excellent communication skills (verbal and written).
• Excellent organization skills of implementing multiple nutrition/health programs.
• Proficiency with MS Office Suite (e.g., Excel).
• At least 1 peer reviewed scientific publication.

Education and Experience
Required:

• Doctoral degree in nutrition, nutrition epidemiology, food policy, or related field.
• Experience working in limited resource communities (e.g., schools, community centers).
• Experience working with adolescents (10–18-year-olds).