Seeking postdoc in data sciences and computational epidemiology

Job Req.: 303451

Position Title: Post Doctorate RA - Data Sciences and Analytics

Description : A 1+ years postdoctoral position is available in the Data Sciences and Analytics Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. We are looking for a strongly motivated person with excellent skills in social media analytics research. Themes of interest include the development, implementation, and resulting analyses related to social network analysis, human language technologies, machine learning, infectious disease epidemiology, and data collection and analysis.  The candidate should have a keen interest in multidisciplinary research and have a PhD (or expect to have one for the starting date) in physics, applied mathematics, computer science, epidemiology, quantitative biology or any close related discipline. Proven abilities to work independently and to quickly adapt to new scientific environments are essential for this position. Superb communication skills to successfully collaborate with the other members of the group, and a strong working knowledge of both oral and written English are required.

The selected candidate will join the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA and will work in collaboration with Dr. Courtney Corley and research staff in the Computational and Statistical Analytics Division. The candidate will support several exciting projects whose objectives include the development of internet-based systems to support biological threat surveillance transforming analytic environments to dramatically enhance capabilities for infectious disease prevention, detection, investigation and response. Ongoing research efforts with the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and USAID draw on a variety of data sources incorporating vetted proprietary health data, high volume public social media, and environmental data. The combination of these diverse sources provides analysts with a full spectrum of information to understand the threat landscape. This research utilizes cloud-based storage and processing resources, to enable a suite of web services provide access to the data and analytic products generated from the analysis of the unstructured text, temporal, geospatial and multimedia data for the purposes of biosurveillance. Specific research tools under development include streaming analytics that integrate weather, social media, vector and disease information to forecast vector-borne disease outbreaks, machine learning methods to integrate health surveillance data with social media to accelerate timeliness of respiratory disease detection, and responding to disease post disaster through sophisticated social media analytics. .

Minimum Requirements :

·         Candidates must have received a PhD within the past five years from an accredited college or university.

·         All staff at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory must be able to demonstrate the legal right to work in the United States.

Minimum Qualifications :

·         Effective written and oral communication is required

·         Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate effectively on diverse teams are required.

·         Record of research accomplishments required, preferably peer-reviewed publications.

·         Proven ability to work independently and to quickly adapt to new scientific environments.

·         Preferred Education/Credential : Degree in physics, applied mathematics, computer science, epidemiology, quantitative biology, or closely related field.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer and supports diversity in the workplace. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital or family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or genetic information.

All staff at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory must be able to demonstrate the legal right to work in the United States.

About Tri-Cities : http://www.visittri-cities.com/ The Tri-Cities started out with 3 main communities: Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland - but the phenomenal growth of neighboring West Richland has made the area more of a "Quad-City". Located just hours from Seattle, WA and Portland, OR, the area is embraced by the beauty of a desert landscape and connected by the Columbia, Snake, and Yakima rivers. The Tri-Cities offers a multitude of recreational, cultural, and historical activities and is a great place to visit and live. We're known for our premier golf courses, award-winning wineries, unique shopping, and abundant outdoor and water recreation. Click on the link above to learn more about the various communities. PNNL is located in Richland, WA.

New Resource on ISDS Website: Public Health Surveillance-related Job and Internship Postings

ISDS is working to highlight public health surveillance-related internship, post-doc, and job opportunities in practice, industry, and academia, by developing a clearinghouse of professional opportunities. Cross-disciplinary disease surveillance opportunities in animal, plant, and environmental health will also be included.

To view the opportunities that have been shared thus far, please visit our website. These postings are submitted by members of the ISDS Community, and will be added on an on-going basis.

If you know of any relevant internship or job opportunities, please be sure to submit them for posting on the ISDS website:

• Internship Opportunity Submission Form
• Job Opportunity Submission Form

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact treynolds@syndromic.org.

CDC Job Vacancy - NCEH/ATSDR Director

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is actively recruiting for the executive position of Director for the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The selectee will lead public health actions to promote health and safe environments and prevent harmful exposures and diseases related to toxic substances.

An MD, PhD or equivalent advanced degree is highly preferred. In addition, desirable candidates should possess broad, proven knowledge in the field of environmental health, proven managerial experience as a leader in public health administration, and the ability to advance the scientific and public health impact of NCEH/ATSDR.  

NCEH/ATSDR has an annual operating budget of over $216 million and a diverse workforce of approximately 1,000 employees and contract staff. The incumbent will be physically located in CDC’s Atlanta Headquarters. For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/nceh andwww.atsdr.cdc.gov.

For questions regarding the application process/requirements, please contact Vicki Hunter (vhunter@cdc.gov).

HOW TO APPLY: Applications are NOT accepted via email. To be considered, apply before midnight EST May 27, 2014 at:

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/366810100  (MD’s only)

or

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/366808800 (MD’s, PhD’s and equivalent)

*Note: the salary indicated in the vacancy announcements is a recommended range. Final compensation determination is commensurate with qualifications and experience and may exceed the maximum salary rate identified.

Post-Doctoral Research Position in Population Informatics at the RODS Lab

The Real-time Disease and Outbreak Surveillance (RODS) Laboratory has an immediately available opening for a post-doctoral research fellow to conduct independent research. The duration of the post-doctoral fellowship can be one or two years. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents.

The research should be related to one of our two main projects: building “next generation” disease surveillance and control systems and our Apollo project. The two projects are closely related and provide many opportunities for high impact post-doctoral work in:

• Bayesian case detection
  
• Bayesian outbreak detection and characterization
  
• Decision-theoretic decision support
  
• Agent-based simulation of infectious disease scenarios (epidemics and control strategies)
  
• Formal representation of infectious disease scenarios for simulation
  
• Codification of epidemiological knowledge for storage and re-use
  
• Ontology-based indexing and retrieval of datasets, publications, and codified knowledge.

The faculty members available for mentoring include, but are not limited to:

• Michael M. Wagner, MD, PhD
• Gregory Cooper, MD, PhD

Additional information about the RODS Lab can be found at www.rods.pitt.edu. The Apollo project Web site is https://code.google.com/p/apollo/. Videos about software and projects can be found on the RODS Laboratory channel on YouTube.

Post-doctoral fellows in the Department of Biomedical Informatics are groomed for faculty positions within the department and other institutions.

Requirements:

• Post-graduate degree (MD or PhD) and training in Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Biostatistics, Epidemiology or a related discipline
  
• NLM fellowship eligibility (US citizen or permanent resident only)
  
• Ability to independently perform research in one of the above areas with mentoring from a
  faculty member
• Ability to write and publish journal articles 

Application Process:

We encourage informal inquiries. Please contact Cleat Szczepaniak at cleats@pitt.edu.
To formally apply, complete the online application at https://apply.dbmi.pitt.edu/. You will be asked to provide:

• Curriculum vitae
  
• Personal statement - description of your research interests
  
• Contact information for three references
  
• One writing sample - preferably a published or accepted paper
  The application fee will be waived – please contact Toni Porterfield (tls18@pitt.edu) Information about post-doctoral stipends is at http://www.dbmi.pitt.edu/node/311. The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. 
  

Deputy Director, Epidemiology & Surveillance Job

Location: Seattle, WA, US
Division: Global Health Program
Department: Vaccine Development

Foundation Overview
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people-especially those with the fewest resources-have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Group Summary
Our Global Health Program (GHP) harnesses advances in science and technology to save lives in poor countries. We focus on the health problems that have a major impact in developing countries but get too little attention and funding. Where proven tools exist, we support sustainable ways to improve their delivery. Where they don't, we invest in research and development of new interventions, such as vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics. Our work in infectious diseases focuses on strategies to fight and prevent HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, neglected and other infectious diseases, enteric and diarrheal diseases and pneumonia. These strategies are supported by functional teams that focus on Discovery and Translational Sciences, Vaccine Development, and Integrated Development.

Responsibilities
The Deputy Director of Epidemiology and Surveillance is a newly created role and will be responsible for building and executing the foundation's surveillance strategy across multiple disease areas, with an initial focus on severe disease and mortality associated with pneumonia, enteric diseases, and fever/malaria in children less than 5 years old and etiologies of neonatal mortality. The vision for this strategy is a global network of surveillance sites that operate in a highly integrated and coordinated way, enhancing the quality, consistency and timeliness of disease burden data. This effort is intended to provide data on disease burden and evolving epidemiology to local and regional country officials as well as to the foundation Program Strategy Teams (PSTs) to support decision-making for interventions and investments.

The Deputy Director of Epidemiology and Surveillance will lead a small team as well as a cross-functional working group that includes representatives from each of the PSTs across Global Health and Global Development, and will provide technical support and leadership for work-streams that report into the larger working group focused on: 1) standardization of data collection and diagnostic assays across sites; 2) Data quality; 3) Data management including transfer and storage; 4) Optimal operating models; and 5) The role of the foundation system within the global network of surveillance and epidemiologic systems.

Key responsibilities:
- Work with the PST Directors and Program Officers (POs) to identify the foundation needs for surveillance and epidemiologic evaluations, clarify the needs that can be addressed by the surveillance network and ensure the necessary activities are completed to provide the requested data.
- Work with POs, external advisors and consultants to identify sites for the surveillance network building on pilot sites and sites with broad experience in surveillance and epidemiologic evaluations. Work with the POs and consultants to visit and operationalize sites including developing methods for standardization across the network with regard to data collection and diagnostic assays.
- Lead the cross-cutting surveillance (CCS) working group within the foundation including finalizing strategy and adjusting as needed (at least annually) based on information received from pilot sites/projects and sites brought on early in the process. Stay abreast of new technologies (e.g., diagnostic assays) and introduce them into the network when available.
- Serve as an advisor and technical leader for the work-streams supporting the CCS working group including work streams for data standardization, assay standardization, data management/storage/transfer, operational models, and partnerships.
- Proactively communicate the role of the foundation's CCS network in the global ecosystem of surveillance and epidemiologic evaluations.
- Represent the foundation on other pressing epidemiologic and/or surveillance projects (e.g., antimicrobial resistance) working with WHO, CDC, and other governmental and academic partners as appropriate.
- Review, make recommendation on, and manage surveillance/epidemiologic grants.
- Manage the budget for the CCS network.

Qualifications
- MD, MD/MPH, PhD, or related experience, specializing in epidemiology and/or surveillance of infectious diseases with a strong preference for experience with pneumonia, enteric diseases, and malaria. The ideal candidate will be a respected member of the surveillance and epidemiology communities
- 15+ years of experience with surveillance systems and in epidemiologic studies in developing countries in Africa and Asia (experience in India strongly preferred), including the set-up of surveillance sites, preferred
- Broad knowledge of diagnostic assays for pneumonia, enteric diseases, and fever/malaria including knowledge of qualification, validation, and transfer of assays across sites. Also needs to have knowledge of and stay abreast of technologic advances in the diagnostic space
- The ability to lead cross-functional strategic initiatives internally, while also managing critical sets of relationships externally.
- High detail orientation and affinity for data, with the ability to artfully manage tactical execution.
- Intellectual quickness, curiosity, discipline, resourcefulness and resilience
- Ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, enthusiasm, and diplomacy both individually and as part of a team effort
- Demonstrated passion for the foundation's values with commitment to deliver results against the foundation's mission
- Sense of humor
- Ability to travel ~30% domestically and internationally

Scope of work will require residency or relocation to the Seattle, Washington area.

As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be contingent upon successful completion of a comprehensive background check. 

Apply now!

CDC Job Openings

Announcement #1:

Position Title: Division Director (Supv Health Scientist):

Location: Atlanta, GA

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is actively recruiting for the position of director for the Division for Health Informatics and Surveillance (DH IS), located in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS), Office of Public Health Scientific Services. The selectee will lead and manage a professional staff engaged in the science and practice of public health surveillance and informatics. The director will assume responsibility for managing and overseeing various national surveillance systems including Bio Sense, the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS); National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance (NETSS); and the National Notable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The ideal candidate should possess:

· Executive leadership and management ability to lead a large multidisciplinary public health organization;

· Expert knowledge in surveillance and informatics and their integration;

· Knowledge of state and local public health practices;

· The ability to lead others in the translation data to achieve a desired public health outcome; and

· High-level ability to lead others in the design and management of government contracts. 

In addition, desirable candidates should possess broad, proven knowledge in the field of public health, public health informatics and surveillance, proven managerial experience in public health informatics, and the ability to advance the scientific and public health impact of DHIS.

The division has an annual operating budget of over $66 million, and a diverse workforce of approximately 175 employees and contract staff. The position is located in CDC’s Atlanta Headquarters, at the Century Center campus. For more information on CDC, CSELS and DHIS, visit http://www.cdc.gov/ophss/csels/. An organizational chart can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/maso/pdf/CSELS.pdf.

Salary: The salary range for this position is $120,034 - $156,043 annually. Relocation and/or recruitment incentives may be authorized.

See below for information on how to apply for this position. Questions regarding the application process should be directed to Human Resources (civil service) Help Desk – 770-488-1725 or hrcs@cdc.gov.  Any additional questions should be directed to Paula Burch 404-498-6454 or pxb3@cdc.gov.

HOW TO APPLY: Applications are NOT accepted via email. To be considered, apply before midnight EST on 04/21 at: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/364546300

*********************************************************************************************************************************

Announcement #2:

Position Title: Division Director (Medical Officer):

Location: Atlanta, GA

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is actively recruiting for the position of director for the Division for Health Informatics and Surveillance (DHIS), located in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS), Office of Public Health Scientific Services. The selectee will lead and manage a professional staff engaged in the science and practice of public health surveillance and informatics. The director will assume responsibility for managing and overseeing various national surveillance systems including Bio Sense, the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS); National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance (NETSS); and the National Notable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The ideal candidate should possess:

· Executive leadership and management ability to lead a large multidisciplinary public health organization;

·  Expert knowledge in surveillance and informatics and their integration;

·  Knowledge of state and local public health practices;

·  The ability to lead others in the translation data to achieve a desired public health outcome; and

·  High-level ability to lead others in the design and management of government contracts. 

In addition, desirable candidates should possess broad, proven knowledge in the field of public health, public health informatics and surveillance, proven managerial experience in public health informatics, and the ability to advance the scientific and public health impact of DHIS.

The division has an annual operating budget of over $66 million, and a diverse workforce of approximately 175 employees and contract staff. The position is located in CDC’s Atlanta Headquarters, at the Century Center campus. For more information on CDC, CSELS and DHIS, visit http://www.cdc.gov/ophss/csels/. An organizational chart can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/maso/pdf/CSELS.pdf.

Salary: The salary range for this position is $120,034 - $156,043 annually. Relocation and/or recruitment incentives may be authorized.

See below for information on how to apply for this position. Questions regarding the application process should be directed to Human Resources (civil service) Help Desk – 770-488-1725 or hrcs@cdc.gov.  Any additional questions should be directed to Paula Burch 404-498-6454 or pxb3@cdc.gov.

HOW TO APPLY: Applications are NOT accepted via email. To be considered, apply before midnight EST on 04/21, 2014 at:

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/357699800

Job Announcement: Recruitment for CDC's Injury Center Director

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is actively recruiting a Director for the National Center Injury Prevention and Control (the CDC Injury Center). CDC welcomes your consideration for the position or help in identifying qualified candidates.

For more than 20 years, the CDC Injury Center has helped protect Americans from injury and violence. As the nation's leading authority on injury and violence, the CDC Injury Center studies injuries and violence and the best ways to prevent them, applying science for real-world solutions to keep people safe, healthy, and productive. The CDC Injury Center Director will lead national efforts for non-occupational injury prevention and control, including the prevention of prescription drug overdose, motor vehicle-related injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and violence against child and youth. Prevention is the most effective, common-sense way to improve health and lower economic costs related to injuries and violence.

The CDC Injury Center's priority is to equip states, local communities, and partner organizations with the best science, tools, and resources so that they can take effective action to save lives and protect people from injuries and violence.  By leading an organization of over 250 staff, the Director will provide the vision and direction to accomplish CDC's strategic imperatives and goals, and lead and manage the performance of the organization.  In addition, he or she will partner with state and local health agencies, private organizations, and other Federal agencies to reduce violence and monitor injury related health issues.

Below are the links to the job description, which will remain open until April 11th, 2014.
·     PhD or equivalent advanced degree:  HHS-CDC-AD-14-1051258
·     MDs only: HHS-CDC-AD-14-1056920

For questions about this position, please contact:
·     Ed Hunter - elh1@cdc.gov - (202) 245-0600
·     Sandy Bonzo - seb2@cdc.gov - (770) 488-0523

For questions about the application process, please contact:
·     Vicky Hunter - VHunter@cdc.gov - (404) 639-7124