PhD/Postdoc position on statistical and machine learning analyses on large-scale complex multimodal data to advance PRECISION PSYCHIATRY striving toward clinical impact of the findings

We are looking for a highly motivated data scientist starting on September 1, 2024, or after agreement.

About us

The Copenhagen Research Center for Biological and Precision Psychiatry is a leading Danish research center within the field of psychiatry with a remarkable research output and an extensive international network. Our main research focus is on prevention as well as improvement of symptoms and quality of life for people with severe mental disorders. The research center is currently innovating in the psychiatric field with quantitative approaches applying statistics and AI to medical and biological data. Thanks to the exceptional quality of nationwide Danish registers and population-based electronic health records, we are becoming a key reference worldwide.

Our researchers share a common purpose as they seek to understand the mechanisms involved in mental disorder, identify objective markers relevant for mental disorders, and to accelerate the understanding of mental disorders towards new prevention and treatment strategies – with a high focus towards improving the current treatments of mental disorders.

About the projects

The PRECISION PSYCHIATRY projects bring a unique opportunity to leverage the Danish EHR, containing detailed large-scale longitudinal clinical information, by utilizing multivariate statistics and machine learning including deep learning approaches. Data content includes both structured data (treatments, laboratory tests, etc.) as well as unstructured data (written clinical notes).

This project aims to discover novel ground-breaking insights into mental disorders, identify clinical state markers and biomarkers for stratification of mental disorders and disease trajectories, as well as identify modifiable factors with prevention potential. The multivariate understanding of objective markers with clinical relevance is also needed for the clinician to get precise prediction estimates and to identify protective factors for mental disorders, which is now based on the clinicians’ intuition. All previous attempts towards more precision psychiatry have not been suited for implementation in clinical practice so far. Therefore, the field of psychiatry still has many unknowns, remaining as a challenge to which we believe these projects will greatly contribute.

With the combination of exceptional large-scale data and individual AI models targeting the different data types, we intend to develop EHR prediction models with sufficient accuracy to warrant clinical implementation. The EHR markers can provide novel direct data-driven support for diagnostics, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. If sufficient precision is obtained, the best models can be directly tested and implemented into the EHR system through decision support tools. We have ongoing clinical testing of one of our models integrated directly in the EHR, pursuing implementation of the best models. This will pave the way to actual clinical implementation that would enable the advancement of precision psychiatry to the next level.

The projects are based on the EPIC EHR system, which is the most widely used EHR system in the world, securing international implementation of recent developments within precision psychiatry, in addition to the world famous Danish nationwide registers and biobanks, also complemented by our clinical cohorts.

About the center and group

We offer an inspiring and informal research environment at a high international level with colleagues from different educational backgrounds, such as bioinformaticians, statisticians, doctors, geneticists, project nurses, etc. The Research Director and PI for the project is Professor Michael E. Benros, chief physician, PhD, and director of the Copenhagen Research Centre for Biological and Precision Psychiatry, at the Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital and at the University of Copenhagen. Among other topics, the group has strong experience and on-going research on Big Data from the nationwide Danish registers and biobanks in addition to detailed clinical studies with multimodal data as wearables and multi-omics that we believe will be beneficial for the projects in both directions.

Moreover, the PRECISION PSYCHIATRY project will be developed with strong collaboration with co-PI Professor Simon Rasmussen group in Multi-modal data integration at the University of Copenhagen (www.cbmr.ku.dk), also in Copenhagen, as well as experts in AI-based analyses of brain imaging and EHR data together with other leading international groups with the same interests.

As a working culture, we are ambitious and result oriented, with an applied mindset to develop new knowledge and tools improving clinical psychiatry, while also like enjoying some time together by organizing different types of social activities from time to time both at the research center and outside. You will be part of an internationally leading cross-disciplinary team working towards data-driven improvements of the current treatment of mental disorders.

About the positions

The offered position is either a 1-year research assistant followed by 3-year PhD position or a 2-4 year postdoc position at the Copenhagen Research Centre for Biological and Precision Psychiatry. The candidate will combine a strong level of technical knowledge within AI, data management and data analysis, as well as scientific interest in the clinical implementation. The candidate will focus on applied research with primarily application of existing statistical, machine and deep learning methods to EHR data.

The position falls within a collaborative multi-disciplinary project that involves computer scientists, bioinformaticians, medical doctors and statisticians. It is thus required for the applicants to have a strong interest in working and communicating with clinical researchers and researchers with other backgrounds along the project. Your day-to-day tasks will involve both independent work and active discussions with your colleagues.

Supervisors: Professor, Head of Research, Michael Eriksen Benros, Copenhagen Research Centre for Biological and Precision Psychiatry, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital and University of Copenhagen; and Professor, Group Leader, Simon Rasmussen, expert in machine learning and Multi-modal data integration, University of Copenhagen.

Start Date: As soon as possible

About you

Requirements

• A master’s degree or Ph.D. degree in Statistics, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, or related fields
• Strong knowledge in machine learning, deep learning and statistics
• Experience with big data management and data processing techniques (mainly Python)
• Proven research expertise in data preparation and visualization and model deployment
• Scientific interest for the understanding and explainability of AI model predictions, to ensure a clinical implementation by providing a funded trust in the results to clinicians
• Strong communication and collaboration skills within a dynamic multi-disciplinary workspace
• A profound interest in our vision of improving the current treatments of mental disorders and solving the real-world problems through statistical and machine learning

Preferred qualifications

• Previous experience with Azure ML or cloud computing systems
• Hands on experience in implementing end-to-end machine learning projects
• A creative problem solver with deep expertise in machine learning, algorithms, and optimization
• An intelligent, organized, hard-working mindset with a focus on advancing the state-of-the-art knowledge within mental disorders, delivering the agreed according to timelines, and with ability to fit into the structure of the new workplace and communications with health professionals
• A desire and ability to solve ambitious problems within mental health care that have a substantial impact for clinical psychiatry

Place of employment

The place of employment is at the Copenhagen Research Centre for Biological and Precision Psychiatry at the Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Copenhagen University Hospital, located at Gentofte Hospital. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in a dynamic, diverse, and international research environment.

Application process

Please submit your application in English or Danish

The application must include the following attachments:

1. Letter of motivation/Cover letter (1 page in length)

2. Your CV (including education, a list of skills/techniques, previous employments, and other relevant skills)

3. Copy of relevant certificates/diplomas (Transcript of MSc or of doctoral studies as well as corresponding degree certificate)

4. List of publications (if available)

5. Contact details of possible referees from 1-2 people. We will contact your referees if required.

All materials should be submitted in a PDF format via the link “Søg job”.

Deadline for applications is: 8th of August 2024 at 23.59 CET

Questions / Contact:

For further information about the job description and qualifications, please contact Head of research, Professor Michael Eriksen Benros, [email protected], Direct Phone: +45-26255239, or

Secretary: Signe Clausen [email protected]

Kilde: Jobnet.dk