Fully-funded PhD and Postdoc positions at University of Florida

Dr. Jinling Liu (https://sites.google.com/umsystem.edu/jinling-liu/home?authuser=0) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology housed in both College of Public Health and Health Professions (PHHP) and College of Medicine at the University of Florida (UF).

Dr. Liu has extensive experience in big data analytics,systems biology, probabilistic graphical models, causal inference and machine learning. Dr. Liu's research interests lie in modeling the rapidly-accumulating big data (e.g., muti- omics) in biology and medicine for precision medicine via a variety of statistical and machine learning techniques – one of her projects along these lines has been recently funded by a prestigious NIH Career Development Award for young investigators. She is committed to advancing precision medicine and improving health equity through her work.

She is also collaborating with researchers in other domains for data analytics and decision making.

Dr. Liu is currently recruiting motivated PhD students for fully-funded graduate research assistantships (GRA) and Postdocs at the current NIH stipend level in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Florida.

Liu lab has access to rich high- dimensional multi-omics data, including WGS, WES, DNA methylation, RNA-seq, proteomics, lipidomics and metabolomics in large-scale human populations. The lab is interested in integrating and mining the different types of data to understand the genomic causes and other biomarkers as well as the underlying signaling network for a variety of diseases including aging, cardiovascular diseases, brain diseases, cancer, et al., through novel statistical or deep learning methods development and application. If you are interested in data analytics, artificial intelligence, genetic epidemiology or precision medicine, please send your CV, transcripts, a brief description of your research interests, and contact information for three references to Dr. Liu through jinling.liu@ufl.edu as soon as possible.

Preferred qualifications:

• Familiar with programing languages such as Python or R, and basic statistics • For Postdoc applicants, it requires either a PhD degree in computer science, statistics, biostatistics, biomedical informatics or related quantitative fields OR a PhD degree in biology or related fields with strong interest in programming, statistics and AI. 1-2 openings are immediately available from 10/1/2023 and open until filled. • For PhD applicants, a MS degree in computer science, statistics, biostatistics, biomedical informatics or related quantitative field is preferred. The official application deadline for PhD in Epidemiology is 12/1/2023 for a start date in Fall 2024. GRE is NOT required but TOFEL or IELTS is needed.

The University of Florida (UF), located in Gainesville, is one of the top 5 public universities in US, ranked 28th among all the universities in 2022 by U.S. News & World Report. UF PHHP is ranked #9 in NIH research funding among schools of public health at public universities, and it has 8 graduate programs ranked in the top 20 among public universities. The department of Epidemiology has expertise in cutting edge areas in epidemiology, statistical genetics, bioinformatics, machine learning, causal inference and artificial intelligence to identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for human aging and age-related diseases. It is also worthy to mention that UF recently announces $70 million artificial intelligence (AI) partnership with NVIDIA, seeking to become a national leader in AI training and application. Gainesville, in northern Florida, is one of the best places to live in US. It is a safe and convenient college town where you can enjoy a mixture of urban and suburban life in a welcoming atmosphere. It is also close to beach, springs and big cities such as Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and so on.

Additional information regarding the department, the college and the major institutes for excellent training/research environment and wide collaborations.

The Department of Epidemiology is strategically situated within the College of Public Health and Health Professions (PHHP) and the College of Medicine. Faculty members are jointly appointed to create synergies and collective strength, resulting in a competitive research profile and highly trained students who receive exceptional exposure to diverse expertise. Our faculty and students have received numerous national awards in research and mentoring and are committed to excellence in training. The department offers an epidemiology PhD, Master of Science, and concentration in the MPH program. It is also home to two National Institutes of Health Training grants (T32). Faculty members are strongly supported by our college-level instructional design team for course development and delivery and by our research core for grant development and submission.

The University of Florida (www.ufl.edu) is a comprehensive research-extensive university that includes a full range of academic departments and programs. The College of Public Health and Health Professions (www.phhp.ufl.edu) is part of the University’s Health Science Center. The UF Health Science Center (https://ufhealth.org/about-us) is comprised of six health-related colleges located on a single, contiguous campus. They include the colleges of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health and Health Professions, and Veterinary Medicine. The Health Science Center also partners with the immediately adjacent UF Health Shands Hospital, the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center, and the UF Health Science Center Regional campus located in Jacksonville, FL. Additional major institutes and centers located at the University of Florida include the Emerging Pathogens Institute, the Institute of Child Health Policy, the UF Health Cancer Center, the UF Genetics Institute, the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the McKnight Brain Institute, all of which provide state-of-the-art environments and access to large data sets for faculty collaboration.