The Epicenter for Disease Dynamics at the One Health Institute in the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC
Davis is seeking a post-doctoral researcher interested in quantitative disease ecology focusing on modeling the
effects of climate change on diseases in animal populations. The fellow will focus on activities related to the
Wellcome Trust-funded project “Climate-driven models to predict future risk of arenavirus spillover”. The primary
responsibilities of the fellow will be related to the development of analytical data pipelines, and disease distribution
models. This is a 2-year post-doctoral position expected to begin in the early part of 2023 based at UC Davis.
The fellow will primarily work with Dr. Pranav Pandit and other Co-PIs of the project, including Prof. Christine
Kreuder Johnson, Dr. Brian Bird, and Dr. Marcela Uhart.
Project Overview:
The study aims to develop climate-sensitive models for individual arenaviruses by closely collaborating with
regional public health experts to create a pipeline of validated data that feeds into predictive models. Models will
be based on reservoir rodent distribution, human cases, and bioclimatic factors that influence the ecology of
arenaviruses and will be also used to predict future risk based on specific emission scenarios and projected local
climate data. Furthermore, models will be presented on an online platform for the public and policy analysts to
explore with clear validation around model uncertainties. The tool will also become a resource for researchers as
a centralized database and knowledge center for arenaviruses in addition to a home for predictive scenario-based
modeling activities.
The postdoctoral fellow will lead the development of predictive models for individual zoonotic arenaviruses. The
fellow will work with regional experts in South America and Africa to create a data validation process that will
be fed into models that are presented on an online platform. The fellow will contribute to regular summaries and
reports for the project and will disseminate the work through publications and scientific meetings.
Background in infectious disease epidemiology or disease ecology and strong quantitative skills in biostatistics,
epidemiology, and mathematical modeling with knowledge of animal health and wildlife disease. We expect the
fellow to have strong programming skills in either R or Python (or a willingness to master Python programming).
Experience with GitHub or other collaborative version control environments, development of data dashboards,
and expertise in machine learning methods are desirable. In addition, candidates with the ability or experience in
working in a multidisciplinary and culturally diverse environment will be preferred. The candidate will also have
to work closely with Spanish-speaking collaborators.
To apply please sent a cover letter and CV by the 15th of December, 2022 to Pranav Pandit (pspandit@ucdavis.edu).
Also, include share GitHub profile or other coding portfolios (code shared along with peer-reviewed papers, etc) if
available, to highlight quantitative research you have performed.