[3 y; MSc or equivalent degree in appl stat, natural sciences, math or medicine; interest in appl research in the areas of epidemiology, biostat and HIV/AIDS; familiarity with stat SW such as Stata, R or SAS; excellent knowledge of English (knowledge of German or French advantage); "Long-term antiretroviral therapy of HIV/AIDS: comparative studies in low-income and high-income countries"] / University of Bern

Long-term antiretroviral therapy of HIV / AIDS: comparative studies in low-income and high-income countries

Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern (Switzerland), www.ispm.ch

An opening for a PhD student in biostatistics / epidemiology is available from 1st February 2010 in the research group on HIV/AIDS/Tb. The is collaborating closely with HIV treatment sites in Southern Africa and other research groups in Cape Town, Bristol and London. The Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) employs over 100 staff and provides undergraduate and post-graduate education and carries out research in a range of disciplines relevant to Public Health. ISPM offers a lively, interdisciplinary environment with excellent computing and library facilities. The position will be within the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and is financed by a scholarship from the Swiss School of Public Health SSPH+ which assures an excellent training programme. The student will be supervised by Prof. Matthias Egger and Dr. Olivia Keiser.

The proposed PhD work will include several studies addressing pertinent questions in the context of the continuing scale-up of antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings, with the ultimate aim to improve the prognosis of people living with HIV and AIDS. The project will mainly use data from the International epidemiological Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA), a global network of treatment cohorts, which includes seven regions (see www.iedea-hiv.org and www.iedea-sa.org):

• Analysis of a large database on treatment failure and switching to (more expensive) second-line and third-line therapies.
• Development of a mathematical model of the rational use of second-line regimens and viral load monitoring in resource-limited settings.
• Latent class analysis to identify groups of patients who are diagnosed late and more likely to be lost from follow-up.
• Communication of the results through presentations and scientific publications in renowned peer reviewed journals.

Requirements:

• MSc or equivalent degree in applied statistics, natural sciences, mathematics or medicine.
• An interest in applied research in the areas of epidemiology, biostatistics and HIV/AIDS.
• Familiarity with statistical software such as Stata, R, or SAS.
• Excellent knowledge of English (knowledge of German or French would be an advantage)

The appointment is available from 1st February 2010 for 3 years. The salary of the PhD position is based on the salary scale of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Please send your applications including curriculum vitae as soon as possible to:
Dr Olivia Keiser, Institute of Social- and Preventive Medicine, Finkenhubelweg 11, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland.

E-mail: okeiser@ispm.unibe.ch