TITLE: Postdoctoral Scholar in Epidemiology
LOCATION: Northwestern University, Chicago IL, USA
The malaria modeling team at Northwestern University is looking for great people with strong quantitative skills and an interest in global health to come work with us! Previous malaria or infectious disease experience a plus but not required.
The malaria modeling team at Northwestern analyzes field, trial, and routine health system data; configures, calibrates, and applies malaria transmission models; and designs and builds new models to answer questions aimed at improving understanding of disease dynamics, informing effective public health campaigns, and guiding rational development of new public-health interventions.
We seek a Postdoctoral Scholar to collaborate in the planning and conduct of large and innovative cross-sectional and longitudinal cohort studies to evaluate malaria risk in urban areas in three Nigerian cities. The successful candidate will support research start up efforts including overseeing ethic review board (IRB) application processes, developing data collection forms and standard operating procedures, statistical analyses plans, and coordinating with international partners. The position will support the conduct of state-of-art statistical analyses to generate parameters for calibrating a mathematical model. In addition, the successful candidate will be encouraged to develop new ideas that promote current research and will be required to prepare and publish scientific manuscripts under the direction of the Principal Investigator.
Our team collaborates with academic, NGO, and malaria control programs around the world, including the Global Malaria Programme at the World Health Organization. As part of the Malaria Modeling Consortium, we work with other leaders in malaria modeling to advise the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on global eradication strategy. Our offices are located at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine in downtown Chicago.
Why join the team?
• Make a difference in the world. Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. Help policy makers figure out how to save lives with a limited budget.
• Work on interesting problems that span disciplines. Our models need to capture processes over a huge range of spatial scales and timescales. Whether you're interested in basic science, product development, or global eradication strategy, there's a problem here for you!
• Create the culture of science you want to see. Help build a team culture of positive, collaborative science that extends beyond the walls of Northwestern to the broader health policy world.
Responsibilities:
• Supports study protocol, work plan and statistical analysis plan development
• Supports and coordinates IRB submissions at Northwestern and at International study sites
• Analyzes field data to understand local transmission, transmission risk factors and intervention characteristics using statistical models to inform research publications and input data for mathematical modeling
• Writes reusable software code (in Python/R) to analyze data
• Prepares research articles and conference presentations to effectively communicate findings to the scientific and programmatic community
• Occasional travel to study sites in Nigeria

Key Qualifications and Required Skills:
• Ph.D. or DrPH in a quantitative field (e.g. Epidemiology, Statistics, Biostatistics, Informatics)
• Experience in study planning and coordinating research start-up activities and collaborating with international research partners
• Proficiency in at least one data-analysis or scripting language (e.g. Python or R)
• Published articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals
• Clear and effective communication of quantitative work to non-experts
• Ability to work occasional extended hours to meet a deadline
• Ability to work productively as part of a small team as well as independently drive a project to completion
Optional Skills
• In depth knowledge of the malaria disease system
• In depth knowledge of issues of public health in developing world settings

How to apply:
• Send cover letter and CV to malariamodeling@northwestern.edu
• Team website: https://www.numalariamodeling.org/