Postdoctoral position in the Statistical Modeling of Infectious Disease Outbreaks
I am looking for a post-doc to work on statistical modeling related to understanding epidemic outbreaks and the human response to them. The work is related to a 5-year project funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and joint with UC - San Diego. The person would work directly with me at UCLA, but be part of a collaborative project involving multiple scientists and disciplines. Details are below:
Salary: Commensurate with experience
Appointment: 24 months (extendable based on mutual agreement and available funding)
Start Date: March 1, 2024
The research focus is to develop dynamic infectious disease transmission models that enable rapid public health policy making during infectious disease outbreaks as part of the newly formed Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics “Insight Net”. This award is a 5-year CDC-funded program to develop an integrated reference design for public health intelligence with the County of San Diego Health and Human Services Department (PI, Eliah Aronoff-Spencer, UCSD). In particular, the project will involve: 1) development of models that can be rapidly deployed to inform public health decision-making by the county for infections such as SARS-COV2, hepatitis A virus, hepatitis C virus, HIV, and mpox; and 2) incorporation of innovative data sources (such as molecular sequences and wastewater samples) to improve the accuracy, precision, and utility of our models during disease outbreaks.
This highly interdisciplinary research will involve collaboration with epidemiologists, clinicians, statisticians, policymakers, and public health researchers. The postdoctoral scholar will work with various faculty PIs at UCLA and UCSD. Scholars will benefit from biweekly seminars and trainee sessions, journal clubs, and grant writing circles that include topics such as disease modeling, economic modeling, statistical inference for model parameters, and network analysis.
Applicants should have a PhD in a relevant discipline (statistics, biostatistics, applied mathematics, epidemiology, computational science and related fields) with experience developing and calibrating dynamic transmission models, dynamic systems models or agent-based models preferred. Experience with any type of transmission modeling (compartmental deterministic, stochastic network or agent-based network) is welcome as our team has experience across various modeling types. Salary will be commensurate with qualification and experience and include travel to conferences/collaborators. Applicants from under-represented minority populations are encouraged to apply.
To apply, please provide the below by email to handcock@stat.ucla.edu:
Cover letter explaining the candidate's scholarly career, prospective or actual doctoral defense date, and academic interests.
Current curriculum vitae, including publications.
Names and email addresses of two people to provide letters of recommendation
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and only complete applications will be considered. Please apply by February 23rd for full consideration.
UCLA is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.