The Mihaljevic Lab at Northern Arizona University (NAU) is seeking applications for a Postdoctoral Scholar to support a recently funded research project within the Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative (SHERC, National Institutes of Health U54). This five-year project will lead to an improved integration of the local effects of social determinants of health and human mobility into mathematical models of infectious disease, with the goal of providing more spatially refined, equity-minded predictions of disease transmission.

The successful candidate will serve as a scientific lead for this ambitious research effort, with primary responsibility for guiding the intellectual development of mathematical and statistical modeling frameworks that are core deliverables of this grant. Key activities include: (a) working with the Principal Investigators to develop theoretical and computational frameworks that link host mobility, host-pathogen interactions, local host demographics, and heterogeneity among host populations; (b) envisioning, coding, and validating statistical algorithms to estimate the parameters of spatial epidemiological models; (c) coordination with diverse collaborators and stakeholders in academia and public health; and (d) potential co-supervision of one or more research assistants that will help with implementation work.

While much initial and overall guidance will be provided, key requirements are the ability and curiosity to generate novel insights, write manuscripts, and manage sub-projects within the scope of the research program. The Postdoctoral Scholar will provide creative input to solve the many challenges encountered in innovation and research, while also completing research products in the form of written manuscripts and scientific presentations.

The chosen candidate will work in collaboration with Dr. Mihaljevic and Dr. Eck Doerry in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, and Dr. Ye Chen in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. There will also be opportunities to develop collaborations with researchers in the Center for Health Equity Research at NAU.