Data Science Postdoctoral Fellows Program at Harvard/DFCI
The Department of Data Science at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute welcomes recent Ph.D. graduates and doctoral candidates nearing graduation who have research interests in applied statistics, machine learning, or computational biology to apply for our postdoctoral fellows program.
This program offers the flexibility to join a research group in our department, be co-mentored by two or more faculty members, and/or work collaboratively as a data scientist with DFCI investigators outside our department. Our department has a diverse group of faculty members that can serve as mentors and DFCI has numerous world renowned basic biologists and clinical investigators looking for collaborators with your skills. The starting salary is $75,000.
Apply Here
MENTOR LIST WITH PROJECTS
- Bill Lotter, PhD – Predictive/prognostic AI in oncology; Clinical translation of AI; Spatial Omics
- Cheng-Zhong Zhang, PhD – Computational tools for chromosomal abnormalities in cancer
- Cliff Meyer, PhD – Computational tools for epigenetics
- Franziska Michor, PhD – Understanding cancer evolution through the use of integrative data science, experimental, clinical, and population science approaches
- Lorenzo Trippa, PhD – Adaptive clinical trial designs, methods for leveraging real-world data in clincial triasl, Bayesian methodology
- Martin Aryee, PhD – 3D genome dysregulation in cancer
- Mehmet Samur, PhD – Integrative methods for high throughput sequencing data from DNA and RNA based sequencing technologies to address challenges
- Rafael Irizarry, PhD – Statistical methods and software for emerging genomics technologies and applications
- Sahand Hormoz, PhD – AI-driven models for directed evolution and in vitro differentiation
- Simona Cristea, PhD – Large language models for single cell cancer genomics; Spatial evolution driving pancreatic cancer progression
- Hajime Uno, PhD – Statistical methods for time-to-event outcomes in clinical research
The Collaborative Data Science Fellows Program – NEW
The DFCI Collaborative Data Science Fellows Program is a cross-departmental initiative designed to advance biologically and clinically driven research through computational excellence. Postdoctoral fellows are recruited to work on projects in the labs of investigators in basic biology (e.g. cancer biology, immunology, virology, pathology) and clinical departments, and are also co-mentored by those faculty together with mentors from the Department of Data Science. This structure ensures fellows gain deep exposure to high-impact biological and clinical questions while developing rigorous computational expertise, preparing them to become leaders in interdisciplinary cancer research. The starting salary is $75,000.
FUNDING AND ACADEMIC APPOINTMENT
Data Science Postdoctoral Fellows are guaranteed funding as well as year-long renewable fellowship appointments with Harvard. In addition to a competitive salary package, funds are available for conference travel and computing equipment.
PROGRAM BENEFITS
Incoming postdocs will be part of the 2026 Data Science Fellows cohort. The department organizes informal training sessions and seminar series as well as social events for postdoctoral fellows. Check out our events page for more information.
APPLICATIONS
Following the Informational Session on December 2025 – Date TBD, interviews will begin in late December/January. Initial decisions will be made by March 2025, but applications are welcomed on a rolling basis.
