Infectious Disease Specialist at 50% effort

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

Infectious Disease Management

Scope of Research: The Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) is seeking to appoint a post-doctoral fellow with great potential and ambition to become a leading scientist. The position will work with some of the best genomics and bioinformatics scientists in the world. We aim to identify both pathogen and human genomic variation that are associated with the transmission and virulence of pathogens and the development of diseases.

Our vision is to be a leader of the fast-moving field of genomics data generation and analysis to save lives in real-time. The fellow will be the bridge between clinicians at the bedside and researchers at CERI, allowing a fast scientific approach to newly emerged clinical questions. The fellow will set up new and strengthen existing collaborations. The fellow will have access to data generated at the largest and most automated genomic facility in Africa and will use this data to gain an understanding of transmission and the design of clinical and epidemiological mitigation strategies. The fellow will set up projects that allows rapid communication of this data to treating clinicians, in order to also benefit individual patient health care.

The fellow will be able to work with the researchers in the CERI group to use these strategies to develop the best format in which to inform public health efforts. The fellow will be able to work with a team of bioinformaticians and epidemiologist to facilitate data integration, including clinical and vaccination data.

The post-doctoral fellow will join a very diverse, collaborative and high-performance team of > 10 bioinformaticians and data scientists and will have access to high quality data from large clinic and population-based cohorts as part of collaborative clinical and epidemiological networks in South Africa and Africa.

The Post-doctoral fellow will be mentored by leading scientists and clinicians, who commonly publish in some of the top biomedical journals (i.e. Nature, Science, Cell, Lancet and NEJM) but more importantly, the Fellow will be developing science with direct clinical impact.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will be awarded a tax-free fellowship for up to 3 years. Once appointed, the successful candidate will be supported to apply for externally funded fellowships and grants in order to advance his/her career. CERI and KRISP will provide world class scientific support and train the fellow in grantsmanship so they can compete for international grants and fellowships.

The fellow will be based at the CERI Genomics Facility at the BMRI building, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences Stellenbosch Campus in Cape Town.

Host: Prof Tulio de Oliveira and Dr. Cheryl Baxter, CERI at Stellenbosch University.

Requirements:

Minimum requirements for positions:

• Medical background (MD), preferably with experience in infectious diseases or microbiology
• PhD in Infectious diseases, Biological Sciences, or a related subject, obtained within the last five years.
• Genomics and/or bioinformatics experience at PhD and/or MSc level
• Experience in publishing in top international peer reviewed journal
• Experience working with the analysis of viral, bacterial and/or human genomes.
• Strong project management skills Advantages

• Experience in clinical epidemiology
• Phylogenetics/evolutionary biology analysis expertise
• Hobbies and interest to live and thrive in South Africa. Please note that postdoctoral fellows are not appointed as employees and their fellowships are awarded tax free. They are therefore not eligible for employee benefits.

Commencement of duties: 1st of January 2023

Closing date: 16 September 2022

Application process: Send a letter of application, accompanied by a comprehensive curriculum vitae, including list of publications, a motivation letter that speaks to the specific requirements of the position and the names and contact details of two referees, to Mrs Zethu Luthuli, [email protected]