Research Assistant Professor of Biology
(Job Number: 240001842)

There is a critical need for new global health planning in malaria – a disease that kills 600,000 individuals every year. Over the past five years, the emergence of new artemisinin-resistant malaria strains in Africa means that drug-resistance mitigation plans are urgently needed on the continent. Using the newest developments in computational epidemiology, our research group is currently assisting five national malaria control programs in Africa in designing these drug-resistance response strategies. Please apply to this post if you would like to be part of this effort.

Job Description

The Boni Lab in the Department of Biology at Temple University is recruiting highly-motivated individuals for Research Assistant Professors. These positions will be available starting Autumn and Winter 2024. The successful candidates will perform research in collaboration with the Boni Lab focused on mathematical modeling of response strategies to the current urgent problem in Africa of responding to the recent (2020-2021) emergence of artemisinin resistance on the continent.

Our lab is based at the Institute for Genomics and Evolutionary Medicine (IGEM) in Temple University's Biology Department, in Philadelphia. Our malaria modeling work is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. We are part of the global Applied Malaria Modeling Network (AMMNet), and we collaborate routinely with partners at Oxford, Imperial College, IS Global, and the Swiss Tropical Public Health Institute (e.g. see https://mol.ax/pdf/watson22.pdf). We provide malaria advice and analytics to WHO regularly, and we have continuous ongoing partnerships with the Rwanda Biomedical Centre and the national malaria programs of Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Burkina Faso. We also work with MMV and JHPIEGO (at Johns Hopkins) and other large consortium projects on planning and evaluating strategies for Africa-wide artemisinin-resistance response.

Successful candidates for these posts will know how to do some or most of:

· Lead research in malaria individual-based modeling focused on drug-resistance control policies

· Lead research in malaria epidemiology

· Use geospatial software like arcGIS to assemble malaria prevalence/incidence data

· Lead software development in C++ for large complex projects

· Understand the needs and requirements of national malaria control programs in malaria-endemic countries

Qualifications

Candidates are required to have a Ph.D. in a relevant field (such as computer science or computational epidemiology), at least 3 years of post-doctoral research experience in computational epidemiology, and a strong interest in malaria research. Familiarity with python and MATLAB is preferred. Experience in C++ is required.

How to Apply

Candidates are encouraged to apply if they are interested in developing applied epidemiological skills through the use of computation, simulation, and new software development, and if they have a keen interest in emergency-level global health response for one of the developing world's most pressing current health problems.

Applicants should submit a cover letter describing their research experience and how these experiences relate to the position, a CV, and contact information for two references. For informal inquiries, please email mboni@temple.edu. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

This is a limited-term appointment funded for one year from date of hire, with excellent possibility of extension.

Temple University is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its forms. We embrace individual uniqueness, foster a culture of inclusion and excellence that supports both broad and specific diversity initiatives, leverage the educational and institutional benefits of diversity, and engage all individuals to help them thrive.

Links to relevant lab research interests are shown below

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02551-w

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39914-3

https://twitter.com/maciekboni/status/1687289671724777472

https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0002200

http://mol.ax/pdf/boni22.pdf