Important Info
Please submit all required application materials online via:
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/019e667dd94b7007b59f85cfa1284c3f
About the Department and Division
The Stanford Department of Pediatrics is committed to advancing the health of infants, children, and adolescents through innovative clinical care, research, education, training, and advocacy. With over 400 pediatricians and subspecialists, the department is one of the largest in the Stanford University School of Medicine and is consistently ranked among the top in the nation.
The Division of Quality of Life and Pediatric Palliative Care within the Department of Pediatrics is dedicated to comprehensively improving quality of life for children with serious illness and their families. Through clinical excellence, research, education, partnerships, and advocacy, the Division works in close partnership with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital to deliver and advance care across diverse clinical and community settings.
About the QoLA Lab (Quality of Life for All)
The QoLA Lab, established in 2025, aims to bring hope and lasting impact to child health, both locally and globally. The lab uses clinical research and scholarship to transform the care provided to children with serious illness and their families, with a strong focus on improving quality of life. The lab brings together a global, multidisciplinary network of collaborators and is grounded in a clear mandate: to generate high-quality evidence and build research capacity to meaningfully improve care for children and families worldwide.
Our core areas of work include:
- Developing and evaluating innovative models of pediatric and perinatal palliative care
- Advancing communication and decision-making in serious illness
- Addressing ethical, legal, and cultural dimensions of care
- Promoting whole-family wellbeing, including in grief and bereavement
- Supporting workforce wellbeing and sustainable models of care
- Building global research capacity through partnerships and training
Position Description
The QoLA Lab is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral scholar to contribute to an ambitious and growing program of research in pediatric palliative care and quality of life. The successful candidate will work closely with Professor Claire Wakefield, Professor Justin Baker, and collaborators across Stanford and international partners. This role will involve both leading and contributing to research across a range of methodologies, including qualitative, quantitative, and implementation science approaches.
The postdoctoral scholar will lead the management of research projects across the full project lifecycle, including study design, human research ethics (IRB) submissions, data collection, analysis, and dissemination. The role may include supervision and mentoring of junior researchers and students. We welcome applicants from a broad range of backgrounds, including medicine, psychology, social work, public health, nursing, and related disciplines.
Projects may span intervention development and evaluation, global health research, communication and decision-making, family wellbeing, and workforce-focused research. The role is ideally suited to candidates who are passionate about improving outcomes for children with serious illness and their families, and who are interested in conducting rigorous, impactful, and policy-relevant research.
Role Requirements:
- 100% FTE, in-person at Stanford (no exceptions)
- This is a research-focused role with no clinical duties
- Minimum appointment of 1 year
- PhD, MD, or equivalent doctoral degree completed within the last 3 years
- Less than 5 years of total postdoctoral or equivalent research experience
- Strong track record of academic writing and publication
- Experience working with, or a strong interest in working with children with serious illness and their families, including direct engagement in research contexts
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to communicate sensitively and effectively with children and families navigating serious illness, and to work across multidisciplinary and cross-cultural teams
- Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple projects
- Demonstrated expertise in one or more relevant research approaches, such as qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods research; patient-reported outcomes and measurement science; implementation science and the evaluation of complex interventions; or health services, population health, or clinical research.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience in pediatric palliative care, oncology, neurology, global health, or related fields
- Experience designing and evaluating complex interventions
- Interest in global research partnerships and capacity building
- Experience engaging patients, families, or communities in research
- Experience supporting or leading human research ethics submissions and contributing to grant applications.
Please send a cover letter describing research interests and fit with the QoLA Lab, CV, and contact information for 3–4 referees, including at least 1 direct supervisor. Applicants should also include PDFs of 2–3 recent first- or co-first-author publications.