The Assistant Professor of Biomedical Data Science/Computer Science/Data Science will spend their time (i) effectively teaching computer science, data science, and biomedical data science courses, (ii) advising and mentoring School of Applied Computational Sciences (SACS) students, and (iii) developing instructional methods that will reflect best practices in pedagogy. The successful candidate will also spend their time demonstrating evidence of or potential for health disparities research utilizing data science techniques, while also spending time on institutional service, demonstrating the ability to work collaboratively with on-campus and off-campus colleagues and constituencies. The successful candidate will contribute to the School’s mission by excelling in teaching, research, and service, with a primary focus on precision medicine or population health informatics to improve health outcomes.
Mission Statement: Meharry Medical College is a global academic health sciences center advancing health equity through innovative research, transformative education, exceptional and compassionate health services and policy-influencing thought leadership. True to its legacy, Meharry empowers diverse populations to improve the well-being of humankind.
Position Summary:
The Assistant Professor of Biomedical Data Science/Computer Science/Data Science will spend 62.5% of their time (i) effectively teaching computer science, data science, and biomedical data science courses, (ii) advising and mentoring School of Applied Computational Sciences (SACS) students, and (iii) developing instructional methods that will reflect best practices in pedagogy. The successful candidate will also spend 27.5% of their time demonstrating evidence of or potential for health disparities research utilizing data science techniques, and 10% of their time on institutional service, demonstrating the ability to work collaboratively with on-campus and off-campus colleagues and constituencies. The successful candidate will contribute to the School’s mission by excelling in teaching, research, and service, with a primary focus on precision medicine or population health informatics to improve health outcomes.
Essential Functions (Principal Duties and Job Responsibilities):
- Teach graduate-level courses in biomedical data science, AI/ML, bioinformatics, or computational health sciences.
- Integrate technology appropriately and effectively into teaching and learning activities.
- Engage with students, colleagues, institutional partners, and the public professionally and collaboratively.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, instructional materials, and teaching methods for courses within SACS.
- Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and support students.
- Collaborate with faculty colleagues to advance teaching, research, and program development.
- Support graduate students in securing and completing internships
- Lead and sustain an independently funded research program in biomedical data science.
- Mentor and support junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and master’s students.
- Collaborate across Meharry Medical College and with external institutions (e.g., Vanderbilt University, AIM-AHEAD, RCMI, NIH, NSF)..
- Advance Meharry’s mission to reduce health disparities through data-driven research..
- Actively participate in departmental, school, and institutional committees.
- Contribute to the advancement of the department and college through collaborative engagement with on-campus and off-campus constituencies.
- Contribute to academic leadership, including program development, curriculum innovation, and departmental service
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:
- Mainstream programming languages for data science, including Python, Java, and C++.
- Use of “other” potential programming languages including R, Scala, Julia, TensorFlow, Go, Spark.
- AI/ML Experience: AI/ML Techniques, Supervision and mentorship in academic AI/ML research; use of AI/ML in socially impactful, real-world problems.
- Agent AI Systems (LangChain, AutoGPT, Weaviate, Pinecone)
- Excellent written, verbal communication, and interpersonal communication skills.
- Sound judgment and maturity, exemplified by consistent professionalism in working with individuals at all levels, both internally and externally.
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities Preferred:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning for biomedical and health applications
- Genomics, multi-omics, or computational precision medicine
- Computational neuroimaging and multi-modal data integration
- Natural language processing and EHR/clinical informatics
- Population health data science,
- Use of mainstream programming languages for biomedical data science, including Python, R, SQL, and SAS.
- Proficient in multivariate statistical mathematics in biomedical applications
- Use of “other” potential programming languages, including Java, Scala, Julia, TensorFlow, Go, Spark
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
- Sound judgment and maturity, exemplified by consistent professionalism in working with individuals at all levels, both internally and externally.
Education and Experience Required:
- PhD or equivalent in Biomedical Data Science, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Computational Biophysics, or a closely related field.
- Experience in biomedical applications of reinforcement learning, Markov decision processes, machine learning techniques, AI, et al.
- At least 3 years of successful teaching experience is preferred, but applicants with the desire to develop expertise in teaching and mentoring are also invited to apply.
- Established record of research productivity, including peer-reviewed publications in leading journals.
- Evidence of excellence in teaching and mentoring at the graduate level.
- Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and training the next generation of data scientists.
- Ability to develop, lead, and obtain external funding in research within 4 years.
Education and Experience Preferred:
- At least 3 years of teaching experience
This job description reflects the general duties and responsibilities necessary to describe the principal functions of the job, as identified, and shall not be considered an exhaustive list of job responsibilities which may be inherent in the job. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. The responsibilities listed may be subject to change at any time and individuals may be asked to perform duties outside of their regular responsibilities to support the ongoing operations and mission Meharry Medical College and its facilities.