Canada: Postdoctoral Position in Chronic Wasting Disease Modeling

Postdoctoral Position in Chronic Wasting Disease Modeling, Canada

A cross-disciplinary research team studying the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in the Canadian Prairies is seeking a postdoctoral fellow to take the lead in creating mathematical models to inform understanding as to how intervention strategies will affect spread of CWD and cervid population dynamics. The modeler will work closely with established researchers on infectious disease in the School of Public Health and Department of Computer Science, and with researchers and students in the Western College of Veterinary Medicine conducting an ongoing field studies on the movement and health status of deer populations, investigating the impact of intervention strategies and vaccination.

Applicants should have earned a doctoral degree in mathematics, Computer Science, physics or engineering or other technical discipline, have past experience in building or analyzing models of infectious disease spread, familiarity with applied mathematics (including differential equations, probability theory, and some knowledge of statistics), exposure to programming and debugging in one
or more object-oriented programming languages, and an interest in applications of modeling to animal and veterinary health. Exposure to epidemiology, and previous work with ecological modeling or individual-based simulation models is desirable but not required. Funding is currently available for a 1- year postdoctoral positional position, with possible extension to 2 years, starting immediately.

Applications will be considered until February 15, 2009.

Interested applicants should write to Dr. Cheryl Waldner at cheryl.waldner[ at ]usask.ca to apply and for further information.