Benefits & Strengths of the Post-Doctoral Experience at LIBR

Salary above NIH scale
- 13% above the national average
Research focus – no teaching required
Institutional support reduces dependence on soft money
Living in Tulsa
- As of 2023, 40% lower cost of living than Boston, 50% lower than San Francisco, 61% lower than New York
- As of 2023, the median home price in Tulsa is $157,200—43% below the national average
- Tight-knit community meets a population large enough to support world-class music and theatre, sports venues and one of the most impressive park systems in the country, including the recently opened $465 million Gathering Place
Comprehensive research support and training
- Two research dedicated scanners with pilot funds available for new imaging studies
- Data management and statistics core service with staff scientists to assist with EEG and fMRI data preprocessing and analysis
- Participant assessment and recruitment core – including clinical evaluation – to support investigator-initiated studies
- Available existing data (n > 5000) including multimodal neuroimaging metrics, biomarkers, neuropsychological assessment, clinical symptom inventory and interviews.
- K club and R club to develop proposals and gain wide feedback

Opportunity to engage with multiple interdisciplinary mentors
Track record of transitioning junior investigators to independence
- 36% successful K award applications
- Two K99/R00 awards in the last three years
- Two early career investigator R01 awardees in the last four years
- One early career DP1 awardee this year
- Current CoBRE Phase 2 award (2023-2028)
  - NeuroMAP includes investigator salary support with additional substantial research funding and support of LIBR research cores
Resources available
- Pilot grants
- Scanner time
Research core services allowing postdocs to focus on their skills
Diversity initiative to support inclusion of diverse perspectives in the work of LIBR with monthly article discussions, training initiatives, speaker series and community engagement activities
Single campus
- Short commute times and easy parking at LIBR
Collaboration with University of Oklahoma and The University of Tulsa
Opportunity to engage with William K. Warren (WKW) "Frontiers in Neuroscience" lecture series speakers
Experience that prepares postdocs for academia or industry
- Bart Ford: Postdoc in 2020-2021, became Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences 2021.
- Namik Kirlic: Postdoc in 2016, Promoted to Associate Investigator in 2018. Currently working in industry as the Director of Therapy Research and Discovery at Compass Pathways.
- Philip Spechler Postdoc in 2019 -2022. Currently working as the Principal Statistician at Wave Neuroscience.

Former Post-Doc Stories

Evan White: Postdoc in 2019, promoted to Associate Investigator/ Assistant Research Professor and awarded K99R00 in 2020, promoted to Principal Investigator/Associate Research Professor in 2022 and awarded DP1 in 2023