FDA Fellowship in Mechanistic Modeling and Clinical Data Analysis of Emerging Drugs

*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.

FDA Office and Location: A research opportunities are available immediately with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), located in White Oak, Maryland.

The Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) performs an essential public health task by making sure that safe and effective drugs are available to improve the health of people in the United States. As part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CDER regulates over-the-counter and prescription drugs, including biological therapeutics and generic drugs. These efforts cover more than just medicines.

Research Project: The overarching research project supports computational modeling efforts to address issues in polypharmacy and opioid overdose spaces. Under the guidance of a mentor, you will help in the development of quantitative systems pharmacology models and become efficient in using various computing languages, such as R, C, and Python, to develop mechanistic models to simulate human pharmacology and utilize High Performance Computing for data analysis. The goal of these quantitative systems pharmacology models is to define a data processing pathway and model validation method that will be used in various areas with particular emphasis on drug polypharmacy. You will also help in analyzing and visualizing data generated from clinical studies. 

Learning Objectives: Through this opportunity you will;

• Establish collaboration framework with FDA internal and external stakeholders for various specific domains including opioids and polypharmacy;
• Learn to process diverse and high-volume data to prepare for modeling;
• Learn how to adjust model structures/parameters based on calibration data, and evaluate model credibility using validation data;
• Learn how to execute modeling & simulation to predict various outcomes, including efficacy and safety for opioid overdose reversal agents.
• Learn how to leverage statistical data analysis and data visualization techniques to interpret clinical study findings.

Note: you will not be involved with any regulatory decision making or policy discussions.

Mentor: The mentors for these opportunities are Anik Chaturbedi (Anik.Chaturbedi@fda.hhs.gov), John Mann (John.Mann@fda.hhs.gov), and Bradlee Thrasher (Bradlee.Thrasher@fda.hhs.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research, please contact the mentors.

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: 2026. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.

Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of FDA and is contingent on the availability of funds.

Level of Participation: The appointment is full time.

Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. 

Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR), and foreign nationals. Non-U.S. citizen applicants should refer to the Guidelines for Non-U.S. Citizens Details page of the program website for information about the valid immigration statuses that are acceptable for program participation.

This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and FDA. The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Participants do not become employees of FDA, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits.

Completion of a successful background investigation by the Office of Personnel Management is required for an applicant to be on-boarded at FDA.  OPM can complete a background investigation only for individuals, including non-US Citizens, who have resided in the US for a total of three of the past five years.

FDA Ethics Requirements

If an ORISE Fellow, to include their spouse and minor children, reports what is identified as a Significantly Regulated Organization (SRO) or prohibited investment fund financial interest in any amount, or a relationship with an SRO, except for spousal employment with an SRO, and the individual will not voluntarily divest the financial interest or terminate the relationship, then the individual is not placed at FDA. For additional requirements, see FDA Ethics for Nonemployee Scientists. 

FDA requires ORISE participants to read and sign their FDA Education and Training Agreement within 30 days of his/her start date, setting forth the conditions and expectations for his/her educational appointment at the agency.  This agreement covers such topics as the following:

• Non-employee nature of the ORISE appointment;
• Prohibition on ORISE Fellows performing inherently governmental functions;
• Obligation of ORISE Fellows to convey all necessary rights to the FDA regarding intellectual property conceived or first reduced to practice during their fellowship;
• The fact that research materials and laboratory notebooks are the property of the FDA;
• ORISE fellow’s obligation to protect and not to further disclose or use non-public information.