Scientific Program Directors and Health Program Specialists

Are you an ambitious scientist hoping to make a high-impact job change? Do you have innovative ideas to accelerate neuroscience research discoveries? The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) seeks bright, creative, visionary scientists, engineers, and physicians with a broad knowledge of neuroscience to conceive and develop large-scale funding initiatives, organize workshops, and interact with leading neuroscientists throughout the world. Successful candidates will join a highly interactive group of public servants applying their basic, translational, and clinical experience and expertise in all areas of neuroscience.

NINDS Chiefs of Staff will host a recruitment booth as part of the NIH exhibit booth (#3401). Stop by anytime or email us to schedule an appointment: NINDSRecruitment@mail.nih.gov

The NINDS Division of Neuroscience plans and directs a program of extramural grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts in basic discovery and disease research in neuroscience, guiding NINDS’s largest research portfolio and charting the future of a vibrant, growing neuroscience research community. Our current career opportunities are listed below.

Program Director (7 vacancies): These Health Scientist Administrators direct research programs and perform a wide variety of activities related to overseeing large grants programs, including program planning and development, program management, solicitation, and evaluation. Experience overseeing an independent research program or grant portfolio is highly recommended.

• Epilepsy
• Neural Engineering
• Neurodevelopment
• Pain
• Parkinson’s disease
• Stroke and cerebrovascular biology
• Vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID)

Health Program Specialist (6 vacancies): These individuals support, plan, coordinate, and screen proposed research projects relevant to various subject-matter areas (summarized below); assist with the design and detailed analysis of scientific and/or administrative factors affecting research program priorities and performance; evaluate grants programs; and provide guidance to grantees on research objectives, requirements, and compliance.   Experience leading or working on multiple projects, teams and/or timelines is recommended.

• Neural Environment Cluster – neuroimmunology, neurovirology, neural vascular biology, the blood brain barrier, stroke, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, neuro-AIDS and neuroinfectious diseases, prion diseases, and CNS infections.
• Neurodegeneration, Dementia, & Repeat Expansion Disorders Cluster – Neurodegeneration including the shared mechanisms of nerve cell death that contribute to many neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases; NIH NeuroBioBank; Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias including Frontotemporal Dementia, Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia, and Mixed-Etiology Dementias; neuromuscular junction biology and neuromuscular diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy, hereditary spastic paraplegias; repeat expansion diseases including Huntington’s disease and Ataxias (Friedreich’s and Spinocerebellar).
• Neurogenetics Cluster (2 vacancies) – genetics and genomics of normal neural development and neurological diseases; rare neurological, neurodevelopmental, metabolic, and neuromuscular disorders; gene expression, proteomics, and metabolomics; gene therapy and gene delivery; molecular basis of neurodevelopment; glia biology; and the Undiagnosed Diseases Network.
• Repair & Plasticity Cluster – spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and associated research on the recovery of function; plasticity of the nervous system; neural circuits that underlie specific behaviors; repair of the nervous system in injury and disease; stem cell biology; neural prosthesis, neural engineering, and other means of repairing the nervous system due to injury or disease.
• Systems & Cognitive Neuroscience Cluster – complex behavioral phenomena such as learning, memory, attention, language, cognition, sensation, and perception; motor control and complex behaviors; homeostatic regulation of cyclic and appetitive behaviors such as sleep, activity, feeding, and drinking; analysis of neural circuits and systems; peripheral and central mechanisms of pain, pain perception, and development of strategies to alleviate chronic pain.

For more information: 

Visit: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/about-ninds/job-opportunities/careers/careers-ninds

Contact: Dr. Ling M. Wong, Chief of Staff (ling.wong@nih.gov)

The United States Government does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor.

NINDS is committed to workplace flexibility and offers a variety of schedule and duty station options (both local and remote).  Administrative support positions (non-scientific) are also available.