The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) is the Nation's Federal Health Sciences University and is committed to excellence in military medicine and public health during peace and war. USU serves the uniformed services and the Nation as a worldwide outstanding academic health sciences center with worldwide perspective for education, research, and consultation, and uniquely relates these activities to military medicine, disaster medicine, and military medical readiness.

The Center for Military Precision Health (CMPH) is a collaborative translational scientific research center at the Uniformed Services University (USU) that brings together the expertise of clinicians and scientists across disciplines to catalyze innovative approaches to Precision Health and Genomic Medicine in support of the Department of Defense (DoD). CMPH also collaborates with investigators at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health for joint genomic, multiomic and data science-based study outcomes. CMPH components include The American Genome Center (TAGC) and related components, with a Data Science Division and Clinical Implementation Division, and collaborating research partnerships. The components provide the expertise, infrastructure, and resources to perform large-scale next generation sequence profiling and analysis.

USU is seeking an exceptional individual to serve in an Assistant or Associate Professor and build advanced translational and health informatics research capabilities as a Deputy Director leading development of the Integrative Diagnostics Branch within CMPH. The Integrated Diagnostics Branch will work closely with the sequencing data and analysis activities of The American Genome Center and the Data Science Division. The incumbent will have the opportunity to leverage current state-of-the-science genomics and preclinical model-system resources and expertise to further develop research and education capabilities from translational high-dimensional science through to clinical medicine implementation. This position is located within and aligns with the mission of USU, the School of Medicine (SOM), and the Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Genetics (APG). This position is in the tenure eligible track.

Duties: The incumbent serves as an Assistant or Associate Professor in the Department of APG. The primary purpose of this position is to elevate the USU and CMPH research program and educational outcomes in precision health informatics and applications for genomic and precision medicine. The incumbent will establish an independent, extramurally funded research program, develop and advance collaborative intramural and external research studies, serve in departmental and university service activities and contribute to the educational curriculum for delivery to graduate and medical studies. Through these activities, the candidate will improve and expand the USU SOM and CMPH expertise and capabilities in high priority focus areas that are relevant to the health and readiness of uniformed service members and the public.

In addition, collateral duties and responsibilities include to serve as a Deputy Director within CMPH. The incumbent will serve as a faculty member with responsibilities leading and conducting research studies with focus areas that leverage precision health informatics, advanced phenotyping and phenotype data analysis for innovative structuring of human disease data that complements the CMPH genetics and genomics data analyses. The faculty member will also synergize with basic and preclinical research within the SOM departments and expertise of SOM faculty to innovate informative outcomes derived from model system study parameters relevant to translational and precision health human studies. The candidate will utilize his/her expertise in the development of clinical informatics pipelines, evaluation and implementation of best practices for phenotyping data element definition, phenotypic data harmonization, and application of health and clinical informatics to hypothesis generation and study design for genomic and clinical genetics-based studies for CMPH. The candidate will further develop and implement methodologies for applications in precision health relevant for uniformed service members by leveraging approaches of artificial intelligence and machine learning utilization of data from clinical laboratory diagnostics, multimodal biomarkers (proteomic, physiologic, or imaging), environmental monitoring, and wearable sensors.

In the role of Deputy Director of the Integrative Diagnostics Branch, the incumbent will support CMPH by evaluating scientific and technical feasibility of proposed collaborative studies of internal SOM investigators with external investigators and recommending health informatic practices for those studies to promote and foster collaborative multidisciplinary evidence-based outcomes. The incumbent will contribute to the design and selection of components for health and clinical informatics of large-scale cohort studies addressing key challenges in data adjudication, harmonization, management and interpretation relevant to study goals. The incumbent will work with the multidisciplinary teams to utilize insight from health informatic approaches for hypothesis-generation and testing using state-of-the-art computational models. He or she will oversee operational frameworks for ingest of study-centric clinical and phenotypic data and will aid in reporting study and participant outcome measures by phenotypic-classified factors.

The incumbent will represent the Center and University at university meetings, collaborating institutions and scientific meetings of professional organizations for scientific knowledge exchange of mutual interest.

The incumbent will contribute to University and School of Medicine educational missions for curriculum development, lecture and small group presentation sessions for medical and graduate students and continuing education or development programs for faculty and staff. He or she will supervise graduate students, research associates, trainees and/or staff scientists for the research activities in his focus areas of health and biomedical informatics. The incumbent will contribute to teaching which may involve a wide range of informatics research techniques including statistical and data management methodologies for applications in health informatic and genomic research. Incumbent will serve as a mentor and formal dissertation advisor to graduate students and define educational objectives, support professional development and assure academic success in their graduate program.

The incumbent will also serve on departmental, SOM and University committees as guided and appointed by the Chair. He or she will contribute to reports for Center associated activities as aided by the CMPH Program Manager and indicated by the CMPH Director.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS: Requires a minimum of a PhD, M.D. or D.O. degree from an accredited university or institution along with experience in health informatics, bioinformatics and/or computer science.

The position requires: knowledge and experience in medical and/or graduate education, academic teaching and administration, academic research, and grants management; experience of success in research and scholarly work, as reflected by publications in critically reviewed scientific journals; and potential to lead an independent, extramurally funded research program, including scientific and administrative skills to secure extramural funding; and exceptional written, oral, and interpersonal communications skills to prepare and provide presentations, lectures, publications, and/or reports, represent the University at meetings or public forums, negotiate complex situations, and to develop consensus based decisions. Competitive applicants will have experience fostering collaborative interactions and developing shared resources.

Candidates must be academically qualified for a faculty appointment at the rank of Assistant and/or Associate Professor in accordance with SOM and USUHS academic guidelines. 

Nominees for this position shall be required to successfully complete a security background investigation. Failure to meet the background investigation requirements will result in the withdrawal of the position offer or removal from the position.

The incumbent will be appointed as an Assistant or Associate Professor in the tenure eligible track within the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics based on his/her qualifications and the mission requirements of USU.

The faculty appointment will be as an Assistant or Associate Professor in the tenure eligible track. The additional assignment as an Associate Investigator of CMPH, is an administrative assignment and is without tenure. This assignment is not a continuous appointment and as such the incumbent serves at the pleasure of his or her immediate supervisor(s) and may be relieved as Deputy Director, CMPH, at any time. 

Relocation expenses, i.e., PCS or relocation incentives as described on 5 U.S.C. 5733, may be authorized in accordance with applicable travel regulations, command policy, and available command funding.

Recruitment Incentive may be authorized.

Executive Order (EO) 14043, dated September 9, 2021, “Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a Federal job announcement includes the requirement that applicants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to E.O. 14043, that requirement does not currently apply. Federal agencies may request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

U.S. Citizenship is required. 

Instruction for Candidates: To receive consideration, applicants must specify in their cover letter the academic rank for which they are applying. Review of applicants will begin upon receipt and continue until the position is filled. Applicants should submit via email a curriculum vita including names and contact information of three (3) references, to: 

Ms.  Megan Morris, Administrative Officer
Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics (APG)
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
4301 Jones Bridge Rd. 
Bethesda, MD 20814-4799


Email Address: Megan.Morris@usuhs.edu

The Uniformed Services University does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors. USUHS is an Equal Opportunity Employer with a strong commitment to racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity.