Job Title: Research Fellow
Department: School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences
Reporting to : Dr Frank Moriarty
Location: RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin 2
Contract/Duration : 4 years (with potential for extension)
Remuneration: IUA Scale Level 3, point 1 (61,318), with increments.
Closing Date: April 22nd 2024
Starting Date: June 2024
Summary of Post
DIAMOND (Developing Innovate Analytical Methods for research ON Deprescribing) is an ambitious research programme supported by a €2.4m Career Development Award from Wellcome. This is part of Wellcome's Discovery Awards, which aim to transform our understanding of health and disease and develop methodologies, frameworks, tools or techniques of benefit to health-related research.
DIAMOND will harness the large amounts of information already collected as part of routine healthcare, such as during GP and hospital visits, to understand the effects of reducing or stopping (i.e. deprescribing) medications which may no longer be needed or causing more harm than good. The programme aims to develop and advance novel methods from the field of pharmacoepidemiology to research deprescribing using big data, and to apply these methods to generate new evidence on the benefits and harms of stopping medications. This research has the potential to inform the decisions of patients and their healthcare professionals as the focus of healthcare shifts to more personalised medicine. Ultimately, this will help people age better with medicines that are right for them.
The programme will focus on identifying deprescribing as it currently happens in routine practice and developing methodological approaches for causal inference on the effects of deprescribing, which will be applied to common medication classes. It will also focuses on quantifying risks of adverse effects from a range of medications, including antidepressants and anti- platelet drugs, and exploring how this information may be used to target deprescribing to provide greater benefits.
We want to recruit a research fellow who will focus on data analysis for epidemiological studies and supporting the principal investigator in managing the research programme. The research will include generation of synthetic data for simulation studies to evaluate statistical methods. The programme also involves analysis of linked patient record data and pharmacovigilance data employing a variety of approaches e.g. target trial emulation, propensity score weighting, instrumental variable analysis, K-means clustering, and disproportionality analysis. The role will involve developing methodological outputs from the research, for example statistical code and/or software packages for implementation of methods in different statistical software systems. The position will provide opportunities for the successful candidate to undertake training and development, as well as to develop and pursue their own research ideas relating to the programme.
For more information on the role please see Job Description.
We are all too aware that imposter syndrome and the confidence gap can sometimes stop fantastic candidates putting themselves forward, so please do submit an application — we'd love to hear from you.
Application Process
Please apply online through the RCSI careers portal on the closing date with your CV and cover letter.
Informal Enquiries can be directed to [email protected]. Please note we do not accept CVs directly.