UMKC Predoctoral Fellowship in Healthcare Research & Infectious Disease Modeling

The University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC) Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI) and Division of Computing, Analytics and Mathematics (CAM) in collaboration with UC DAVIS School of Veterinary Medicine, are jointly seeking five predoctoral fellows in Biomedical and Health Informatics, Mathematics, or Computer Science. The Predoctoral Fellowships are for three years (assuming satisfactory progress toward research goals in year one). The predoctoral fellows will:

a) pursue a funded UMKC Interdisciplinary PhD in Biomedical and Health Informatics, Mathematics, or Computer Science starting January 2023;

b) assist in collection, cleaning and archiving of medical and local community data; and

c) work with a team of interdisciplinary researchers from UMKC and UC Davis to build mathematical and computational models of healthcare-associated infections.

International students, who are already in the US, are welcome to apply. Applications by members of all underrepresented groups are encouraged. The Predoctoral Fellows are chosen based upon the applicant’s academic achievements and leadership potential. Preference will be given to applicants who are US citizens and have demonstrated the ability to carry out independent research.

Minimum qualifications:

Candidates must hold (or are expected to hold) an M.S. degree in Mathematics, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Epidemiology, or related fields or equivalent.

Preferred qualifications:

(1) knowledge of calculus, ordinary differential equations, and linear algebra, or applied statistics

(2) quantitative, analytical, and programming skills (preferably MATLAB, SAS, R, or Python)

(3) background and/or interest in infectious diseases and interdisciplinary research

(4) ability to communicate effectively in spoken and written English

Note: Applicants currently enrolled as UMKC Ph.D. students are encouraged to apply; however, they should have a minimum of two years remaining to complete the coursework and research.

Research Areas:

CAM and BHI provide opportunities for Ph.D. scholarship at the interface between mathematics, computer science, bioinformatics, and epidemiology. Predoctoral fellows will be assigned to synthetic projects that require a blend of mathematical, computational, biological and epidemiological approaches, and are expected to include explicit opportunities to expand the scholar’s previous education. The projects may involve collecting real-time data, constructing databases, developing mathematical, statistical and/or computational models, and synthesizing existing data. The main goal is to support pre-doctoral fellows’ innovative research to develop and apply computational tools and mathematical methods for modeling the spread of pathogens in healthcare settings (i.e., SARS-CoV-2, healthcare-associated infections, antimicrobial-resistant organisms). Applicants can choose one of the following three research areas.

Area 1: Improve understanding of source, distribution and spread of Antimicrobial Resistant (AMR) Enterobacteriaceae.

For more information contact Dr. Majid Bani-Yaghoub baniyaghoubm@umkc.edu, Dr. Sharif Aly saly@ucdavis.edu or Dr. Pranav Sudhir Pandit pspandit@ucdavis.edu

Area 2: Use real-time contact and movement data to improve modeling and simulation of AMR pathogen transmission by asymptomatic spreaders and contaminated medical devices.

For more information contact Dr. Md Yusuf Sarwar Uddin, muddin@umkc.edu

Area 3: Use SARS-CoV-2 pandemic data to advance health equity in nursing homes.

For more information contact Dr. Jenifer Allsworth, allsworthj@umkc.edu

Fellowship Stipend

Fellows will receive a competitive stipend and the tuition will be paid in full.
Application Deadline
December 1, 2022.

Application Instructions

Applications must be sent to Dr. Bani baniyaghoubm@umkc.edu

Please combine all application materials (cover letter, full curriculum vitae, transcripts, a statement describing research and interest, and contact information for up to three references) into one PDF or Microsoft Word document with a maximum size of 8 MB Limit the document name to fifty characters and do not include any special characters (e.g., /, &, %, etc.).

Applicants who are not a current UMKC graduate students must concurrently apply for admission to the interdisciplinary doctoral program with a primary emphasis in Mathematics, Computer Science, or Biomedical and Health Informatics: https://futureroo.umkc.edu/apply/

For information about the eligible PhD programs, please visit:

a) Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Mathematics https://catalog.umkc.edu/colleges-schools/graduate-studies/mathematics/

b) Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Computer Science https://catalog.umkc.edu/colleges-schools/graduate-studies/computer-science/

c) Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Biomedical and Health Informatics https://catalog.umkc.edu/colleges-schools/graduate-studies/biomedical-health-informatics/

Note: Please indicate in the cover letter if you are a US citizen, permanent resident or an international student already in the US, a UMKC PhD student with a minimum 2 years remaining to complete degree requirements, or expected to graduate with a master’s degree by December 2022.