PhD studentship in Biostatistics / Epidemiology

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