Postdoctoral Scholar - Research Associate

Our research group develops models and methodology for improving health policy decision-making using a variety of techniques, including stochastic modeling, optimization, simulation, dynamic programming, and others. We currently have several funded projects in collaboration with medical practitioners, with applications to periodontal disease, diabetes control, and infectious disease policy. Thus, in addition to the responsibilities listed below, the postdoctoral scholar may have the opportunity to work with clinical trial data and/or analyze electronic health record data from a large hospital system in Los Angeles, depending on interest, and can mentor students and participate in grant proposal development if desired.

Primary Responsibilities: The postdoctoral scholar will be expected to:

• Use statistical and machine learning techniques to predict health outcomes in empirical data (longitudinal and cross-sectional)
• Build and modify individual-level simulations for determining the long-term cost and effectiveness of health interventions
• Regularly communicate findings to collaborators (including researchers from other research fields, clinicians, and health providers) and incorporate feedback
• The scholar will lead the research team in writing manuscripts and disseminating findings at scientific meetings

Preferred Qualifications

• Qualified candidates should have expertise in data analytics/statistics/machine learning for prediction: work with datasets to generate summary statistics, run regression analyses and predictive methods, assess performance and feature importance, visualize data. Experience with healthcare data is preferred but not required.
• Candidates should have experience with building individual-level simulations for health (microsimulation), including coding (developing new code and adapting existing code), model parameterization, model calibration/validation, and generating intervention output from simulated scenarios.
• Qualified candidates should have, or be close to completing, a doctorate degree in health research and policy, management science, industrial engineering, operations research, statistics, machine learning, or related fields and have a strong research record.
• Strong writing and verbal communication skills are required, with the ability to communicate technical results and incorporate feedback to interdisciplinary collaborators.
• Candidates with experience in other modeling methodologies (e.g., optimization, compartmental modeling, dynamic programming, etc.) are preferred but not required.
• Hybrid work: candidates will need to attend some regular in-person meetings and simulation training sessions, although other work may be conducted remotely.

Additional Information:

The annual base salary range for this position is $72,000 - $79,000. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope of responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state, and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.

Employment Period: This is a one-year position, with possibility of extension to 2-3 years. The start date is flexible but should be between June 2026-Sept 2026.

Required Applicant Documents

A cover letter, curriculum vitae, research statement (at most 3 pages), and list of at least 3 references. Please feel free to upload your application materials in a single document.

USC and the Viterbi School

The University of Southern California (USC), founded in 1880, is in the heart of downtown L.A. and is the largest private employer in the City of Los Angeles. As an employee of USC, you will be a part of a world-class research university and a member of the "Trojan Family," which is comprised of the faculty, students, and staff that make the university what it is.

Founded in 1905, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering is named for Andrew Viterbi who developed an algorithm to connect the world's citizens. Similarly, the school, located in Los Angeles, a global center for arts, technology and international business in the heart of the Pacific Rim, is a hub for entrepreneurship that connects students from 64 countries.

USC Viterbi is a pioneer in restoring sight to the blind; restoring memory to sufferers of Alzheimer's; and socially assistive robots to aid seniors with stroke or children with autism. It is the home of the first operational quantum computing center in academia. Our alumni include Neil Armstrong, first human on the moon; A.C. Mike Markkula, co-founder of Apple; and Wanda Austin, former CEO of the Aerospace Corporation.

The USC Viterbi School is consistently ranked among the top graduate programs (U.S. News and World Report). Under the leadership of Dean Yannis C. Yortsos, the school helped re-imagine the 21st century engineer, pioneering the Grand Challenge Scholars Program in schools across the globe. Our mission is to serve California, the nation and the world. At USC Viterbi, we call this the enabling power of Engineering.