The Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases announce a research scholar position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), focusing on HIV phylodynamics, network epidemiology, and HIV Prevention research. The successful candidate will participate in the management, oversight, and implementation of a 5 year project funded by the NIH to evaluate HIV phylodynamics to monitor and respond to HIV transmission networks. The study location is the state of North Carolina. The scholar will work directly with Ann Dennis, MD, MS at UNC-CH and Simon Frost, DPhil at the University of Cambridge. Other involved faculty include Erik Volz, PhD at Imperial College London and Myron Cohen, MD at UNC-CH. The initial term of appointment is one year but reappointment for subsequent years is likely depending on contributions to the project. Salary is commensurate with experience; NIH salary rates apply for postdoctoral applicants.

We are seeking a highly motivated candidate who will provide technical assistance to public health partners in nucleotide sequence management, conduct sequence-based network and phylodynamic analyses, and assist in software development and modeling applications. The scholar will lead manuscript preparation and collaborate on future grant proposal writing. Duties include but are not limited to:

• Assist in technical and scientific oversight and implementation of the project.
• Coordinate between state and university laboratory partners, public health epidemiologists and disease intervention services.
• Participate in data management and analyses of HIV epidemiological surveillance data including HIV sequences (consensus pol sequences generated by reference laboratories and deep sequencing data generated by UNC-CH). Conduct transmission cluster analyses and assist in phylodynamic modeling and software development.
• Develop research reports and presentations for academic, public health, and community audiences.

Educational Requirements: Applicants should either possess a PhD in Virology, Evolution, Bioinformatics, Epidemiology, or a related field or have experience in working in a research software engineering environment.

Qualifications and Experience: The scholar should demonstrate writing and research capabilities through peer-reviewed publications and involvement in funded research. An excellent grasp of bioinformatics and programming (such as in R, Python, Julia or JavaScript) is required. The scholar must be prepared to travel to present research results and travel locally on a monthly basis to coordinate with public health partners.

Special Instructions
Interested candidates should send letter identifying primary area of interest, curriculum vitae, and two representative publications. Review of applications begins immediately and will continue until position is filled. Please contact Dr. Ann Dennis adennis@med.unc.edu for additional information or to apply.