Political Science Jobs in Rochester, MN (NOW HIRING)

This position may be located in Rochester, MN; Jacksonville, FL or Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ.

Position Overview
Mayo Clinic is seeking accomplished investigators to develop and lead high-impact research programs focused on advancing cancer prevention and screening research and clinical trials. These positions offer the opportunity to grow a collaborative, externally funded research program within a multidisciplinary comprehensive cancer center environment with strong clinical and population health research resources. Investigators will conduct rigorous research designed to improve cancer prevention or screening across clinical, public health, community, and organizational settings. The individual will examine how prevention and screening strategies can achieve greater reach, adoption, effectiveness, scalability, and sustainability.

Successful applicants will be expected to establish or expand an independent, externally funded research portfolio; produce influential scholarship; collaborate across disciplines and Mayo Clinic locations; mentor early-stage investigators or trainees; and contribute to the scientific priorities of Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. Successful applicants will house their program at one of the three Mayo Clinic Destination Medical Center Sites in Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; or Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ, but have the opportunity to work across the Mayo Clinic enterprise.

The primary focus of the positions is research. These positions are open to both non-clinical full-time scientists and investigators, and physician scientists with an active clinical practice, with the expectation of at least fifty percent effort dedicated to research.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead an innovative, externally funded research program focused on cancer prevention and/or screening.
• Conduct rigorous research to develop, implement, adapt, scale, and/or sustain prevention and screening programs to improve cancer outcomes.
• Apply a range of research methodologies, such as translational and implementation research, pragmatic trials, clinical trials, hybrid effectiveness-implementation studies, natural experiments, and comparative effectiveness studies.
• Utilize quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches informed by relevant theories and frameworks.
• Disseminate research findings through peer-reviewed publications, presentations, grant applications, reports, tools, and practice-oriented products.
• Advance evidence-based cancer prevention and screening strategies and clinical trials across clinical, public health, community, and organizational settings.
• Evaluate factors influencing implementation success, including reach, adoption, fidelity, cost, and sustainability.
• Collaborate with clinical, operational, community, and public health stakeholders to integrate research findings into programs, workflows, models of care, and scalable interventions.
• Conduct research spanning cancer risk reduction, cancer-preventive vaccination, screening and early detection, precision prevention, risk communication, digital health, and healthcare delivery.
• Engage patients, caregivers, community organizations, healthcare partners, and public health agencies to inform and strengthen research initiatives.
• Develop and maintain multidisciplinary collaborations across Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, and with external academic, healthcare, public health, and community partners.
• Mentor faculty, trainees, students, and research staff, contribute to educational programs in cancer prevention and screening, implementation science, population science, and related disciplines.
• Contribute to Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center scientific priorities, strategic initiatives, shared resources, and Cancer Center Support Grant activities.
• Strengthen institutional capacity in cancer prevention, screening, dissemination and implementation, and population health research.
• Provide scientific leadership through participation in committees, research programs, faculty development, and interdisciplinary team-building efforts.
   

Why Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCCC)? 

With 440 members and >1500 aligned cancer physicians working in six Cancer Research Programs and 15 Disease Groups, MCCCC is a global leader and represents the pinnacle of cancer care, research and education and training. Every year, across its three enterprise sites (Rochester, Minnesota; Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona; and Jacksonville, Florida), MCCCC physicians provide expert cancer diagnosis and treatment to more than 150,000 unique patients from across the nation and the globe.

The MCCCC Misson: To inspire hope and promote health and healing through integrated research, clinical practice, and education, centered around our primary value: the needs of the patient come first.

The MCCCC Vision: To be a global cancer authority: transforming cancer research and practice to assure that our discoveries, knowledge, and expertise are accessible to all, within and beyond our walls, at anyplace and anytime.

MCCCC Goals:

1. To cure cancers through translation of innovative transdisciplinary science to new means of prevention, early detection, interception, intervention, and unparalleled care delivery. 
2. To transform cancer research and practice using category of one data platforms, digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent automation, creating new models for community and patient engagement, and the conduct of research, clinical trials and patient-centered care delivery in clinical, home, and community settings. 
3. To use Mayo Clinic Platform to engage patients and communities in our catchment areas and across the nation and the world in cancer research and distributed and decentralized clinical trials.
4. To educate, train, and mentor the next generation of cancer physicians, scientists, and leaders.

Over the past year, MCCCC has continued to achieve exceptional performance metrics, with high levels of cancer research funding (reporting $61.2M in annual peer-reviewed funding ($41.1M from NCI) and $98.7M in industry and non-peer reviewed funding). The Center currently has over 80 multi-investigator programmatic grants including 6 NCI Specialized Programs of Research Emphasis (SPORES): Myeloma, Ovarian Cancer, Breast Cancer, Liver/Hepatobiliary Cancers, Prostate Cancer, and Sarcoma. In 2025, clinical trial accrual has remained robust, reporting the Center's highest accrual to therapeutic interventional trials: 2,624 (12% of newly registered cases), with 6,588 interventional accruals (30% of newly registered patients) and 10,367 non-interventional accruals. In 2025, MCCCC members published an exceptional number (1776) of peer-reviewed academic works, 24% of which were published in high impact journals.

• Doctoral degree, such as a PhD, DrPH, ScD, MD, MD/PhD, or equivalent, in a field relevant to cancer prevention, screening, or cancer control such as epidemiology, behavioral science, health services research, public health, implementation science, population health, health communication, biostatistics, informatics, health economics, nursing, medicine, psychology, sociology, or a related discipline.
• Research expertise in cancer prevention and/or cancer screening.
• Evidence of a productive research program appropriate to career stage, including peer-reviewed publications, scientific presentations, extramural funding, or funding potential.
• Experience designing or conducting rigorous research relevant to cancer prevention or screening, with interest in translating findings into clinical, public health, organizational, or community settings.
• Experience or strong potential for multidisciplinary collaboration, mentorship, teaching, or research workforce development.
• Commitment to improving health among all populations as relevant to the candidate's research program.
• Academic accomplishments consistent with appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor.
• National or international recognition, peer-reviewed research funding, or leadership in cancer prevention, screening, dissemination and implementation science, or related discipline.
• Experience leading or supporting externally funded studies.
• Familiarity with implementation science frameworks, strategies, or outcome measures as applied to cancer prevention and screening.
• Experience partnering with cancer centers, academic medical centers, healthcare systems, public health agencies, community research networks, or community organizations.
• Interest or experience in translating research findings into practice, programs, tools, guidelines, or implementation strategies.
• Interest or experience incorporating health economics, informatics, digital health, artificial intelligence, systems science, or learning health-system approaches.
• Strong written, oral, interpersonal, and scientific communication skills.