Dedicated exclusively to children and their families, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is one of the largest and most respected paediatric healthcare centres in the world. As innovators in child health, we lead and partner to improve the health of children through the integration of healthcare, leading-edge research and education. Our reputation would not have been built - nor could it be maintained - without the skills, knowledge and experience of the extraordinary people who come to work here every day.

SickKids is committed to ongoing learning and development, and features a caring and supportive work environment that combines exceptionally high standards of practice.

When you join SickKids, you become part of our community. We share a commitment and determination to fulfill our vision of Healthier Children. A Better World.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to work alongside the world's best in paediatric healthcare.

We are seeking a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow to join a multidisciplinary research program focused on improving care and outcomes for hospitalized children through the Canadian Paediatric Inpatient Research Network (PIRN) (https://www.pirncanada.com/). This full-time position is based within Child Health Evaluative Sciences at the SickKids Research Institute and will be supervised by Dr.

Peter

Gill and Dr.

Sanjay

Mahant, paediatricians and scientists with a strong program of patient-oriented research in paediatric hospital medicine (https://lab.research.sickkids.ca/mahant-gill/) and hospital data analytics (https://geminimedicine.ca/gemini-paediatrics/).

The successful candidate will play a leading role in advancing a portfolio of multi-centre clinical trials and trial-related research, with a particular emphasis on grant writing, trial design, protocol development, and complementary observational studies that strengthen trial readiness and interpretation (e.g. target trial emulation). This is an excellent opportunity for a highly motivated post-doctoral fellow with strong skills in clinical research methods, academic writing, causal inference, and collaborative research to contribute to impactful child health research.

The fellow will receive close mentorship in clinical trial design, grant development, causal inference, and academic writing; opportunities to lead manuscripts and contribute to major national grant applications; access to PIRN's national network of paediatric hospital medicine investigators; and support to develop an independent program of research in child health. Research training and career development will be available through the Research Training Centre at SickKids.

When applying to the position,



please include a cover letter outlining your motivation to work with our group, your relevant experience, a brief description of your long-term career goals and how this position will help to facilitate these goals, and an example/link to a research paper of yours. Please also provide a list of two references (1 of which should be the PhD supervisor).

Here's What You Get to Do

- Lead and support the development of grant applications for paediatric clinical trials and related trial infrastructure, including drafting scientific rationale, study design, methodology, feasibility, implementation, knowledge translation, and impact sections.
- Contribute to clinical trial protocol development, including refinement of research questions, eligibility criteria, outcomes, trial procedures, recruitment plans, data collection approaches, and analytic plans.
- Lead and support the design of observational studies that complement the trial portfolio, including target trial emulations, cohort studies, database studies, and analyses of routinely collected clinical data to strengthen trial rationale, feasibility, design choices, and grant applications.
- Work closely with Drs. Gill and Mahant, trial methodologists, statisticians, research coordinators, patient partners, co-investigators, and knowledge users to strengthen trial design, feasibility, and funding competitiveness.
- Contribute to systematic reviews, feasibility work, observational analyses, and other preparatory research needed to inform the design, conduct, and funding of clinical trials.
- Support and help oversee students, trainees, and research staff working on grant development, trial preparation, and trial-related research activities.
- Serve as a key point of communication across investigators, methodologists, collaborators, patient partners, research staff, and stakeholders to maintain momentum across grants and clinical trial projects.

Here's What You'll Need
- A PhD in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Clinical Epidemiology, Health Services Research, Public Health, or a related field.
- Solid training and working knowledge in clinical research methods, with experience or strong interest in clinical trials, observational studies, causal inference methods, target trial emulation, or other interventional and non-interventional study designs.
- Experience with protocol development,



grant writing, and scientific writing for manuscripts, reports, abstracts, presentations, or funding applications.
- Experience working with routinely collected health data, administrative or electronic health record data, registry data, or multi-site clinical datasets is an asset.
- Excellent academic writing skills, including the ability to synthesize evidence, articulate methodological rationale, and produce clear, compelling, funder-ready content.
- Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with multidisciplinary teams, including clinicians, methodologists, statisticians, research coordinators, patient partners, and trainees.
- Experience in child health research, paediatric hospital medicine, patient-oriented research, or embedded/pragmatic clinical trials is an asset.
- Experience with knowledge translation and stakeholder engagement is an asset.
- The successful applicant will be encouraged to apply for external fellowship or salary support where appropriate.

Employment Type: Full-time, 1-year contract with option for renewal for 1-2 years; modified advantages. SickKids is committed to championing equity, diversity and inclusion in all that we do, fostering an intentionally inclusive and culturally safe environment that reflects the diversity of the patients, families and communities we serve. Learn more about workplace inclusion.

If you require accommodation during the application process, please reach out to our aSKHR team. SickKids can provide access and inclusion supports to eligible candidates to support their full engagement during the interview and selection process as well as to ensure candidates are able to perform their duties once successfully hired. If you are invited for an interview and require accommodation, please let us know at the time of your invitation to interview.

Information received related to access, inclusion or accommodation will be addressed confidentially.

Technical difficulties? Email [email protected] with a short description of the issues you are experiencing. We will not accept resumes sent to this inbox but we are happy to respond to requests for technical assistance.

Tip: Combine your cover letter and resume into ONE document of 20 pages or less as you cannot upload multiple documents as part of your application.

Every application is reviewed by a human recruiter and all hiring decisions are made by people. In some cases, AI-assisted tools are used to help review applications based on job-related qualifications.

All positions posted on the SickKids Hospital's Careers Site represent current vacancies, unless otherwise posted in the .

📌 Research Fellow - Canadian Paediatric Inpatient Research Network (Toronto)
🏢 The Hospital for Sick Children
📍 Toronto