The Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology at the University of Rochester (UR)
announces an opening for a postdoctoral traineeship in Environmental Health (EH) Biostatistics,
funded by an NIEHS T32 training grant. The appointee will develop and apply novel statistical
methodology for projects related to EH, under the mentorship of a Biostatistics faculty trainer
(Drs. Sally W. Thurston, Matthew N. McCall, Brent Johnson, Tanzy Love, Michael McDermott,
David Oakes, or Robert Strawderman). The specific methodological focus may be based in part
on the trainee’s interests, and will involve co-mentorship from a leading environmental health
researcher. Examples of EH topics include studies of (a) the associations between air pollution
exposure and biomarkers thought to indicate increased risk of future cardiac events; (b) effects of
pre- and post-natal mercury exposure from fish consumption on multiple outcomes in childhood
and adolescence; (c) RNA sequencing to quantify the effect of dioxin exposure on CD8+ Tcell
gene expression accounting for an unknown mixture of responders and non-responders; and
(d) methods to quantify morphologic changes in microglia in response to pharmacological
alterations of noradrenergic signaling in the brain. Methodological expertise among T32 faculty
trainers includes Bayesian MCMC methods, models for multiple outcomes, latent variable
models, measurement error, missing data, causal inference, survival analysis, clustering,
statistical genomics, molecular systems biology, and bioinformatics. The appointee will also
receive training in advanced biostatistics and in toxicology, and be involved in other
collaborative work with EH researchers. For more information see
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/biostat/training-grant.aspx.
Position qualifications: In accordance with NIEHS requirements, trainees must be a US citizen
or permanent resident, and must have completed a doctoral degree in statistics or a related
subject by the appointment start date. We seek a highly motivated candidate with a strong
statistical background, excellent programming skills and good communication.
Appointment: The position is available for 12 months initially. Applicants with a start date on
or prior to June 1, 2019 have the possibility of renewal for a second year by mutual agreement.
An earlier start date is preferred.
To apply: A cover letter describing research experience, a current CV and contact information
for three references should be sent by email to Sally_Thurston@urmc.rochester.edu (please
reference “NIEHS postdoctoral position” in the subject line).
The University of Rochester is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity institution.
Applications from women and under-represented minorities are particularly encouraged.
