AGILE Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow

Institute Convergent Science - 624500

10/31/2023

Yes

Postdoctoral Scholar

AGILE Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow

PDS004017

Full-Time Temporary

40

1

Chapel Hill, NC

North Carolina, US

Commensurate with education and experience.

11/15/2023

12 Months

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) seeks to expand the scale and scope of its impact on society by translating discovery into solutions through invention, innovation, and enterprise. To accomplish these goals, the university will develop and mobilize new teams of researchers, designers, experts, and entrepreneurs and provide the support and infrastructure needed to help these teams succeed. UNC seeks to foster a comprehensive innovation ecosystem that embraces the whole institution and its external partners, and that provides information, services, and resources to faculty entrepreneurs in a systematic way along the arc of discovery-invention to technology-transition. The UNC Institute for Convergent Science (ICS) is a key component of that ecosystem. Using a three-lane innovation framework articulated as ‘Ready, Set, Go,’ ICS supports the journey from innovative idea to transformational product, technology, or solution through a problem-centered approach that draws together innovators from diverse disciplines to address real-world issues. Located in Carolina’s premier science research facility, the UNC Genome Sciences Building, ICS brings the best commercialization processes to the $1.15 billion UNC research enterprise. The UNC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is among the country’s best programs. The department is consistently in the top 10 for NIH funding and the UNC Ob-Gyn residency training program is consistently ranked in the top 5. Within the department, the division of Global Women’s Health is a unique group of clinicians, researchers, and public health professionals working to improve the health of women in the world’s poorest countries. Led by Dr. Jeff Stringer, UNC GWH currently has seven faculty members and seven research fellows based in Chapel Hill and in southern Africa. Collectively, this group has raised over $260 million in funding for its work from government and private foundation sources. The Department of Biostatistics is internationally recognized as a leader in Biostatistics research and training. It is one of eight departments in the Gillings School of Public Health whose mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of the population through the interaction of teaching, research, and service. The Biostatistics Department is one of the largest on campus, with almost 300 employees and more than $50 million in annual research funds. Position Summary:

The Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is a signature component of the UNC Institute for Convergent Science (ICS) in which fellows work with teams of researchers and innovators to transition their research to applied goals. ICS Innovation Fellows bridge the scientific/technical elements of an ICS project with team science and commercialization support activities. This ICS Innovation Fellowship position will focus on applied and methodological research in deep learning and machine learning, with particular attention to deep learning applied to medical imaging as well as clinical data. The fellowship will focus on developing models and AI tools that can be used to help triage urgent obstetric conditions in settings without trained experts. The fellowship mentoring team comprises leading experts in this domain: Dr. Jeff Stringer, Director of the Division of Global Women’s Health at UNC and PI of more than $20 million in ultrasound AI funding to date; Dr. Michael Kosorok, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Biostatistics and a leading expert in data science, biostatistics, and machine learning; and Dr. Teeranan Pokaprakarn, Assistant Professor who leads machine learning model development in the Stringer lab. This project is funded by a two-year ICS AGILE (Advance Great Inventions or Leave Early) award. The Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow will devote ~70% effort to the scientific project (the scientific and technical elements plus related commercialization support), under the supervision of the project PIs, and ~30% effort toward supporting and contributing to other projects within the ICS under the supervision of the ICS Associate Director. Projects included in this 30% effort category may include performing customer discovery, market research and patent landscaping; providing project management support for other ICS teams; developing and coordinating ICS events and workshops; and supporting proposal development projects. Because this is the first position of its kind, the fellow selected for this position is invited to help shape and define the role. There is flexibility to tailor the experience to the career goals of the fellow, depending on availability of suitable projects/initiatives. This fellowship offers unique training in translational science while also developing commercialization and project leadership skills. Fellows are also encouraged to participate in existing experiential training programs including UNC Venture Catalyst Program and I-Corps program. Fellows will have access to UNC CareerWell courses (including Market Research, Team Collaboration, Technology Commercialization Fundamentals, Applied Project Management) offered by The Graduate School. The work location for this position is within the Global Women’s Health team at the Health Sciences Library. This central location is adjacent to both the Biostatistics Department and the KickStart Accelerator, where the fellow will have access to mentoring from KickStart Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and its advisory network. The fellow is invited to participate in KickStart events and workshops. The fellowship is initially a one-year assignment, with possible extension to two years if the ICS-funded AGILE project meets its milestones. Minimum Education and Experience Requirements:

A Ph.D. in statistics, biostatistics, computer science, or related quantitative discipline.

Demonstrated record of creativity, research productivity, organization/project management skills, and strong communication skills required. The successful candidate will be a team player who is adaptable, flexible, eager to learn new skills, and interested in research translation/commercialization.

A strong background in statistics, computer science, causal inference, machine learning, and applications of deep learning to biomedical data is preferred.

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