PhD Position in Foundation Models for Medical Reasoning
100%, Basel, fixed-term
The research group led by Michael Moor is seeking to fill a PhD position focusing on medical reasoning with foundation models. We are looking for an ambitious candidate eager to conduct groundbreaking research in medical AI. Our goal is to advance the capabilities and faithfulness of medical reasoning models across diverse medical contexts. The successful candidate will join a cutting-edge research group that is pioneering medical foundation models, agent systems, and reasoning models.
Job Description
- Develop novel methods that enhance the reasoning capabilities of medical foundation models (LLMs, MLLMs, and multi-agent systems).
- Design multimodal retrieval-augmented strategies integrating EHRs, clinical guidelines, imaging databases, and other structured knowledge sources.
- Implement flexible memory and retrieval systems to support reasoning-chain generation and sequential decision-making in clinical tasks.
- Develop approaches to minimize hallucinations and improve the reliability and robustness of medical AI systems, including adversarial robustness (in collaboration with SHS).
- Post-train and evaluate multimodal foundation models at multiple scales.
- Co-develop a new benchmark for multimodal clinical reasoning and explainable sequential decision-making.
- Publish research findings in top-tier ML venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR) and prestigious biomedical journals (e.g., Nature Medicine, Nature Biomedical Engineering).
- Participate in collaborations across the MLCARE consortium (including funded opportunities at a Max Planck Institute and Siemens).
- Engage in dissemination, open-source contributions, and knowledge-transfer activities.
Profile
- Master's degree in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, Mathematics, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related field; or
- Master's degree in Medicine (MD) with strong Python skills and some ML experience.
- Strong programming skills in Python and experience with modern ML stacks (PyTorch, Hugging Face, distributed training).
- Experience in LLMs, vision-language models, multimodal learning, or clinical NLP is highly desirable.
- For computational candidates: experience in large-scale ML training (multi-node setups, distributed training) is a strong asset.
- Good computational engineering practices: version control, reproducible pipelines, batch job management, etc.
- Ability to work independently, contribute to team efforts, and communicate effectively in English.
- Prior research experience, publications, or industry ML experience are advantages but not required.
Workplace
Join a highly interdisciplinary environment at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE) located in Basel, which is a major hub for medical and biomedical research and biotechnology.
We Offer
- A full-time, fully funded MSCA Doctoral Network position at ETH Zurich, one of the world’s leading research universities.
- Our group is engaged with the ETH AI Center and SwissAI initiative, providing our members access to a vibrant and world-class AI community.
- Access to cutting-edge computational resources, including large GPU clusters, and opportunities for medical and biomedical collaborations.
- Participation in the Europe-wide MLCARE consortium for further exchange and collaboration.
We Value Diversity and Sustainability
ETH Zurich fosters an inclusive culture. We promote equality of opportunity, value diversity, and nurture a working and learning environment where the rights and dignity of all our staff and students are respected. Sustainability is also a core value for us, and we are committed to working toward a climate-neutral future.
Curious? So Are We.
We look forward to receiving your online application using the form below, including the following documents (concatenated into one PDF):
- CV
- Bachelor and Master transcripts
- Motivation letter (outlining your motivation and fit for the program and the host lab)
- Letters of recommendation (if available, or a list of names that can be queried for letters of recommendation)
Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.
About ETH Zürich
ETH Zurich is a leading university specializing in science and technology. We are renowned for our excellence in education, cutting-edge research, and direct knowledge transfer to society. With over 30,000 individuals from more than 120 countries, we create an environment that promotes independent thinking and inspires excellence. Located in the heart of Europe, we collaborate globally to develop solutions for contemporary challenges.