only in low-resource countries, but also in high-income countries,
especially in hospital settings. One challenge that is particularly
relevant today is the problem of drug resistance, whereby a pathogen no
longer responds to treatment by one or more available drugs. Additionally,
the frequency of pathogen outbreaks requires the development of
surveillance tools to rapidly track, prevent, and ultimately disrupt the
chain of transmissions. The availability of fast, reliable and affordable
whole-genome sequencing (WGS) methods has the potential to be a major boon
for public health authorities attempting to control the development of drug
resistance and the spread of epidemic outbreaks. However, in order to fully
harness the power of these methods, there is an urgent need for novel
statistical and algorithmic techniques for microbial WGS data. These
methods are still in their infancy, and developing them further could lead
to a significant impact.
The successful applicant for this position will extend state-of-the-art
computational statistics methodology to address key challenges from fields
such as pathogen genome-wide association studies; phylodynamics, for
example, methodological developments related to Approximate Bayesian
Computation (ABC) or Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC); and molecular
epidemiology. The specific focus will depend on the background of the
successful candidate. The ideal candidate will have a Ph.D. in
computational biology, statistics, applied mathematics, or a related field.
The candidate should be a self-starter, able to work independently and
assist in supervising MSc or Ph.D. students. Experience working with
genomic data, and a knowledge of phylodynamics, GWAS, ABC and/or SMC
methodologies is an asset.
The position will be based in Vancouver, BC, jointly hosted by Leonid
Chindelevitch (Simon Fraser University, Computer Science Department) and
Alexandre Bouchard-Côté (University of British Columbia, Statistics
Department) and funded by a Collaborative Research Team Project from the
Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute. The applicant will also have the
opportunity to collaborate with researchers in the life sciences and
clinical departments. The applicant will be expected to travel within
Canada and internationally for collaboration and presentation of research
results; our collaborators on this project are based in Montreal, Halifax,
Toronto, Ottawa, London, and Boston, MA.
The position will come with a competitive postdoctoral-level compensation
for one year, with a possibility of extension. Applications will be
considered on a rolling basis.
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