About City of Hope

City of Hope is an independent biomedical research and treatment organization for cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases.

Founded in 1913, City of Hope is a leader in bone marrow transplantation and immunotherapy such as CAR T cell therapy. City of Hope’s translational research and personalized treatment protocols advance care throughout the world. Human synthetic insulin, monoclonal antibodies and numerous breakthrough cancer drugs are based on technology developed at the institution.  AccessHope™, a subsidiary launched in 2019 serves employers and their health care partners by providing access to City of Hope’s specialized cancer expertise.

A National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center and a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, City of Hope is ranked among the nation’s “Best Hospitals” in cancer by U.S. News & World Report and received Magnet Recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Its main campus is located near Los Angeles, with additional locations throughout Southern California and in Arizona.

City of Hope’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We believe diversity, equity and inclusion is key in serving our mission to provide compassionate patient care, drive innovative discovery, and advance vital education focused on eliminating cancer and diabetes in all our communities.  Our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ensures we bring the full range of skills, perspectives, cultural backgrounds, and experiences to our work -- and that our teams align with the people we serve to build trust and understanding.  We are dedicated to fostering a community that embraces diversity - in ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives; this is reflected in our work and represented in our people.

Position Summary

The Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope is looking for a talented Postdoctoral Fellow in the Division of Mathematical Oncology. A Postdoctoral fellow (also known as a postdoc) is an individual holding a doctoral degree who is engaged in a temporary period of mentored research and scholarly training for the purpose of acquiring the professional skills needed for their career development. 

Established in 2015, the Division of Mathematical Oncology seeks to translate mathematics, physics, and evolution-based research to clinical care. The Division is committed to both developing and applying novel technics of mathematics and physics to translational problems in oncology. To this end, the candidate should be dedicated to multidisciplinary research and demonstrate a track record of publications involving collaborative research in mathematics, physics, engineering, oncology, or a closely related field.

The candidate must have excellent communication skills. With guidance and mentorship from the Director of Mathematical Oncology, the candidate will be expected to work independently and support research into information flow and state-transitions in multiple omics datasets to study initiation, progression, and response to treatment in acute myeloid leukemia. Analysis will include but is not limited to genomic analysis, time-series analysis, stochastic differential equation modeling, partial differential equation modeling, basic bioinformatics, and state-transition modeling. This position is supported by a U01 project grant through the Physical Sciences in Oncology Network (PSON) at the National Cancer Institute (http://physics.cancer.gov). The candidate will be expected to lead authorship of manuscripts related to research and grant milestones and to provide material for grant progress reports.

The candidate will be expected to design and execute research in Mathematical Oncology including, but not limited to, the following domains:

• Cancer modeling
• Novel metrics of response to therapy
• Cancer-immune system interactions
• Dynamical systems analysis
• State-transition modeling
• Ordinary, Stochastic, and Partial differential equation modeling (ODE, SDE, PDE)
• Data analysis
• Dimension reduction methods (PCA, t-SNE, UMAP, MDS...)

Key Responsibilities include:

• Prepare manuscripts and grant applications
• Present research results at national and international meetings
• Report research progress on a regular basis
• With guidance and mentorship from the Director of Mathematical Oncology, develop independent research and apply for funding to support research projects.
• Develop novel mathematical models and/or quantitative analyses to interrogate experimental data produced by lab-bench and clinical oncology collaborators
• Develop novel algorithms to identify and predict biological dynamics
• Utilize data visualization to explore and communicate complex ideas, including nonlinear dynamics and theoretical concepts as they pertain to oncology research
• Single out and implement preexisting algorithms for the purpose of biomarker discovery and sample classification
• Analyze and model structured data using advanced mathematical methods and implement algorithms and software needed to perform analyses
• Perform machine learning, and statistical analysis methods, such as classification, time-series analysis, regression, and hypothesis validation methods
• Perform explanatory data analyses, generate and test working hypotheses, prepare and analyze historical data and identify patterns

Basic education, experience and skills required for consideration:

• Ph.D. in applied mathematics, physics, oncology, or computer science or closely related field is required

Preferred education, experience and skills required for consideration:

• Proficiency with at least one of the following programming languages:  R, Python, MATLAB, and experience with databases and SQL highly desirable
• Experience with analyzing high throughput data such as transcriptomic, proteomic, and/or genomic data including bulk and single-cell datasets.
• Experience with time-series analysis and state-transition modeling

Additional Information:

As a condition of employment, City of Hope requires staff to comply with all state and federal vaccination mandates.

City of Hope is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, status as a protected veteran, or status as a qualified individual with disability.