Postdoctoral Researcher in Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Do you want to contribute to better health for all?

Health inequalities are clearly visible in both preventable and treatable diseases, where groups with higher socioeconomic status are more likely to adopt healthier lifestyles and more effective disease management. Healthcare face major challenges in measuring and addressing the impact of SES gradients on health outcomes and quality of care. Without robust and scalable tools to capture SES at the individual level, health systems struggle to address inequalities, advance scientific progress, and improve health for all. Simply put: we cannot manage or change what we cannot measure. The B. Nordlund research group is looking for a postdoctoral researcher who wants to develop and validate the first version of an socioeconomic metric, the Swedish HOUSES index, during a two year contract.

Your mission

The overall aim of the research is to integrate individual-level socioeconomic status in order to improve risk stratification and enhance the performance of machine learning models for predicting asthma exacerbations. The hypothesis is that socioeconomic-informed machine learning models integrated with the home spirometry system will more effectively predikt asthma deteriorations and reduce disease burden, particularly among vulnerable patient groups.

You will be responsible for defining key variables for the construction of the first version of the Swedish HOUSES index, based on housing-related variables. You will then link registry data to the PRISAAD project and validate the Swedish HOUSES index against classical SES indicators and health outcomes in asthma. You will also actively participate in an international collaboration between Karolinska Institutet, KTH- The Royal Institute of Technology and the Mayo Clinic, USA, as well as contribute to conducting a meta-analysis that combines the Swedish and U.S. HOUSES indices with associated health outcomes.

Your profile

To be eligible for employment as a postdoctor, a PhD or a foreign degree deemed to be equivalent to a Swedish PhD is required. This eligibility requirement must be fulfilled at the latest at the time of the employment decision. Completion of your doctoral degree within the last three years is considered an advantage. If there are special reasons, your degree may have been completed earlier.

Furthermore, it is an advantage if you have experience in registry research and biostatistics based on data from national Swedish registries.

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. At Karolinska Institutet, 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

The B. Nordlund research group is a clinically oriented team that combines clinical epidemiological research with digital innovation and machine learning. The goal is for the research to play a key role in bridging scientific findings and technology with clinical implementation, ultimately improving healthcare—particularly in the fields of asthma and allergy.

Link to the research group’s webpage at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health (KBH): PANDA

Application

An employment application must contain the following documents in English or Swedish:

• PhD certificate
• A complete resumé, including date of the thesis defence, title of the thesis, previous academic positions, academic title, current position, academic distinctions, and committee work
• A complete list of publications
• A summary of current work (no more than one page)

Welcome to apply at the latest 15th of December 2025.

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

Permanent position is initiated by a six months trial period.

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