Professor in psychiatry combined with employment as specialist physician in psychiatry at Stockholm Health Care Services

- with focus on research

Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research?

At the Department of Clinical Neuroscience (CNS), we conduct research and teaching on brain function – from the molecular level to the societal level. We are organized into five divisions and primarily teach future psychologists, physicians, optometrists, and psychotherapists, as well as future speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and physiotherapists. Most of our clinical research and education is carried out in collaboration with Region Stockholm and other research groups at Karolinska Institutet.

The Centre for Psychiatry Research (CPF) is one of the largest divisions within CNS, with approximately 400 employees and/or affiliated researchers. The advertised position is important for strengthening expertise in psychiatry, specifically in the area of psychotic disorders.

Description of the subject area

Among psychotic disorders, schizophrenia is the most common diagnosis, and a significant proportion of this patient group receives inpatient psychiatric care within Region Stockholm. The WHO defines acute schizophrenia as the most disabling health condition, and among psychiatric disorders, schizophrenia carries the highest societal cost per affected individual.                                                                                                                                             
The heritability of schizophrenia is high. Over the past decades, large-scale genetic studies have identified numerous regions in the genome associated with an increased risk of developing schizophrenia. This provides excellent opportunities to map the disease’s basic science and clinical research.

The announced position as Professor of Psychiatry is aimed at a physician and is part of an initiative within Region Stockholm to improve care for patients suffering from psychosis. The position will be combined with employment as a specialist-qualified psychiatrist within the Stockholm Health Care Services (SLSO), divided as 40% at SLSO and 60% at Karolinska Institutet (KI).

Your mission

The Centre for Psychiatry Research conducts successful research on psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, depression, and substance abuse. Within the research area of psychotic disorders, the focus is on developing a translational research platform that is integrated into the care program currently being developed by Region Stockholm for patients with psychosis.

You will primarily be engaged in research focused on unraveling the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying psychotic disorders, particularly schizophrenia. Your work will involve both basic research and translating research findings into clinical applications. This includes, for example, identifying biomarkers, patient stratification, and contributing to the development of new therapies.

You are expected to conduct research at an internationally high level and lead a research group in the field. You are also expected to support and coordinate preclinical and clinical research within the field to promote the use of multimodal approaches. In addition, you are expected to contribute to and actively participate in teaching at the doctoral, undergraduate, and advanced levels.

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible for an employment as Professor with focus on research the applicant must have demonstrated excellent scientific skills and very good pedagogical skills as well as clinical skills.

For employment as Professor at Karolinska Institutet, the eligibility requirements are stated in the Instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure and these are applied in relation to established profile of employment:

See the instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet.

It is a requirement that you have completed 10 weeks of courses on teaching in higher education, 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.

The employment will be combined with an employment as a specialist physician in  psychiatry at Stockholm Health Care Services and therefore you must have a Swedish MD with specialist competence in psychiatry as well as fulfill the National Board of Health and Welfare's requirements for practicing medicine in Sweden.

Since the employment includes clinical work, you must, besides English, demonstrate proficiency in Swedish, Norwegian or Danish (C1 level according to the common European reference scale, CERS).

Assessment criteria

The Professorship has a focus on research. The assessment will weight qualifications as follows: scientific skills (3), pedagogical skills (2), leadership and collaboration skills (2), and clinical skills (2).

For employment as Professor at Karolinska Institutet, the assessment criteria stated are in the Instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure and these are applied in relation to established profile of employment:

See the instructions regarding the Appointment Procedure for Teachers at Karolinska Institutet.

It is furthermore meritorious that you have

• Experience of leading internationally competitive preclinical and clinical research in schizophrenia
• Expertise in the use of advanced experimental models in complex genetic diseases.
• Experience of various techniques, such as transcriptomics or proteomics..
• Ability to lead collaborative projects aimed at bridging preclinical and clinical research.
• Significant clinical experience in psychotic disorders.
• Education and experience in academic and clinical leadership.

After an overall assessment of the expertise and merits of the applicants in relation to the subject area, Karolinska Institutet will determine which of them has the best potential to contribute to a positive development of the activities at KI.

What do we offer?

A creative 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 benefits through our collective agreement. 

Location: Solna 

Department of Clinical Neuroscience | Karolinska Institutet
Your career continues here

Application

Your application must contain the following documents in English: a cover letter as well as a resumé and a qualifications portfolio including a description of your research plan, both presented in accordance with Karolinska Institutet’s template (http://ki.se/qualificationsportfolio). You may change or add to your application at any time up to and including the application deadline date. After the deadline, the process closes, and no amendment or addition can be made to your application.

The applications will be reviewed by external reviewers, most often both national and international. For that reason, all the submitted documents should be written in English.

The application is to be submitted through the Varbi recruitment system.

The clinical employment at Stockholm Health Care Services requires specialist certificate in psychiatry to be attached to the application.

The level of clinical employment is determined by Stockholm Health Care Services before the decision of employment is made.

We look forward to receiving your application!

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