Assistant Professor in Molecular Epidemiology

Do you want to contribute to improving human health? 

Our research group studies neurodegenerative disease, mental disorder, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. We focus on identifying novel risk factors and prognostic indicators for these diseases, as well as understanding comorbidity patterns between these diseases. We integrate multidisciplinary research tools to address these research questions, including population and health registers, large-scale cohort and case-control studies, as well as biobank data. 

The Integrative Epidemiology research group is led by Professor Fang Fang and is a part of the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM). IMM is a research department at Karolinska Institutet and a cross-disciplinary research institute in environmental medicine. IMM conducts state-of-the-art research within the fields of environmental and occupational medicine, toxicology, physiology, and epidemiology and biostatistics with the aim to study how environmental and lifestyle factors impact our health and the role genetics play. IMM conducts education in areas such as epidemiology, toxicology, work and health, and biostatistics. IMM is also responsible for providing authorities with scientific expertise, support, and advice regarding environmental health risk assessments and IMM researchers participate in national and international expert groups. We are looking for an Assistant Professor in Molecular Epidemiology, with a research focus on mental disorders and their comorbidity with somatic diseases. 

Your mission 

You will develop and lead the molecular epidemiology work in the research group. In this role you will study factors underlying mental disorders and their comorbidity with cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases.

You are expected to form your own independent research line and to lead all aspects of your projects including applying for funding, coordinating international projects, project and data management, as well as dissemination of research including publications. You will work closely with other members of the research group and will supervise postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and master students. The work will include teaching in courses given at IMM. You will also participate in IMM's mission as a national expert body in environmental medicine. The employment as Assistant Professor is time-limited to a maximum of six years but includes the possibility to apply for promotion to a permanent position as a Senior Lecturer.

Eligibility requirements 

Those eligible for employment as an Assistant Professor are individuals who have been awarded a PhD or attained equivalent research competence. Preference should be given to those who were awarded a PhD or attained equivalent research competence no more than five years prior to the expiry of the application period for the position as assistant professor. 

Those who have been awarded a PhD or attained equivalent research competence earlier may however be considered if special grounds exist.  

Special grounds refer to: 

• parental leave, 
• positions of trust in trade union organizations 
• mandatory service in the total defense forces 
• long-term illness 

Ground, dates and extent must be clearly specified in the application and verified with relevant documentation. 

Appointment to the position of assistant professor requires good scientific skills and good pedagogical skills. (See the instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet). 

It is a requirement that you have completed three weeks of courses on teaching in higher education (or have equivalent competence), as indicated in the recommendations of the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institution. If you lack such education at the time of employment, you must undergo such education during the first two years of employment.

Assessment criteria

It is particularly meritorious that you have demonstrated

• concluded a post-doctoral period
• documented experience in the fields of genetics and psychiatry, as well as comorbidity between mental disorders and medical diseases
• since inflammation is a key hypothesis for the observed comorbidity between mental disorders and medical diseases, documented experience in immunology is meritorious
• documented experience in methods of molecular epidemiology including genome-wide association studies, family-based studies, prediction modeling, multi-omics, as well as Mendelian randomization and polygenic risk score methods
• shown the ability to publish as first or last author in international journals of high impact factor (>20) in the fields of genetics, immunology, and psychiatry
• existing international collaborations
• the ability to work independently, take own initiatives, good collaborative and leadership skills

After an overall assessment of the expertise and merits of the applicants in relation to the subject area, Karolinska Institutet will determine which of the applicants has the best potential to contribute to a positive development of the activities at KI. When assessing applicants, we place particular emphasis on pedagogical and scientific skills, as well as personal suitability and ability to collaborate.

What do we offer? 

A creative, international and inspiring environment with wide-ranging expertise and interests. Karolinska Institutet is one of the world's leading medical universities. Here, we conduct successful medical research and hold the largest range of medical education in Sweden. At KI, you get to meet researchers working with a wide range of specialisms and methods, giving you ample opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience with the various scientific fields within medicine and health. It is the crossover collaborations, which have pushed KI to where it is today, at the forefront of global research. Several of the people you meet in healthcare are educated at KI. A close relationship with the health care providers is important for creating groundbreaking top quality education and research. Karolinska Institutet is also a state university, which entitles you to several good benefits through our collective agreement.  

Location: Solna

Choose to work at KI – Ten reasons why

Application

We prefer that Your application is written in English, but You can also apply in Swedish. An application must contain the following documents: Resumé, qualifications and description of planned research, presented in accordance with Karolinska Institutet’s qualifications portfolio.

The application is to be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system

Particular assessment for promotion to Senior Lecturer

An Assistant Professor employed in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance Chapter 4 Section 12a shall be promoted to Senior Lecturer if he or she is eligible for an employment as Senior Lecturer in accordance with the Instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet and is assessed to be suitable for such employment in accordance with the assessment criteria that KI has decided should be applied when being promoted to Senior Lecturer. The assessment criteria stated in the Instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet that was valid at the time of appointment as Assistant Professor will be applied when applying for promotion to Senior Lecturer.  Current assessment criteria is found here. Such promotion results in a permanent position as Senior Lecturer. 

Want to make a difference? Join us and contribute to better health for all!