Faculty position, Infectious Diseases - Open-Rank Discovery Investigator Faculty
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Summary
Join a department building the future of pediatric infectious diseases, where discovery, prevention, and treatment converge to improve outcomes for the world's most vulnerable children.
Job description
Infection Biology | Immunology | Virology | Host-Pathogen Research
Join a department building the future of pediatric infectious diseases, where discovery, prevention, and treatment converge to improve outcomes for the world's most vulnerable children.
The Department of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital seeks innovative laboratory-based and computational investigators to advance fundamental understanding of infection, immunity, and host-pathogen biology.
Candidates will join a collaborative scientific environment in which mechanistic discovery is connected to urgent clinical questions and translational opportunity. We welcome scientists at all career stages who are prepared to establish or expand rigorous, externally recognized programs with the potential to change how infectious diseases are understood, prevented, and treated.
Opportunity
Appointments may be made at the Assistant Member, Associate Member, or Member level based on experience and accomplishments. Faculty will be expected to develop an independent research program that complements and extends the department's discovery and translational portfolio.
- Establish and sustain a rigorous, innovative, and externally funded research program
- Publish influential scholarship and communicate discoveries to scientific and clinical audiences
- Build productive collaborations across disciplines and research platforms
- Mentor trainees, postdoctoral fellows, staff scientists, and junior investigators
- Contribute to graduate education, scientific programs, and departmental strategy
- Advance discoveries with potential relevance to diagnosis, prevention, treatment, or immune health
Areas of Strategic Interest
- Host-pathogen interactions
- Viral, bacterial, or fungal pathogenesis
- Innate and adaptive immunity
- Early-life immunity and immune development
- Vaccine science and systems vaccinology
- Antimicrobial resistance
- Immune reconstitution and recovery
- Translational immunology
- Computational infection biology
- Artificial intelligence and data science for infectious diseases
- Genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and other multi-omic approaches
- Biomarkers, precision diagnostics, and systems biology
Qualifications
Required
- PhD, MD, MD/PhD, or equivalent doctoral degree
- Record of scientific achievement and scholarly productivity appropriate to rank
- Demonstrated ability or strong potential to lead an independent research program
- Commitment to rigorous, collaborative, and multidisciplinary science
- Commitment to mentorship and development of the scientific workforce
Preferred
- History of or strong potential for sustained extramural funding
- Experience integrating experimental, translational, or computational approaches
- Evidence of leadership in collaborative research or scientific program development
Requirements
- PhD, MD, MD/PhD, or equivalent doctoral degree
- Record of scientific achievement and scholarly productivity appropriate to rank
- Demonstrated ability or strong potential to lead an independent research program
- Commitment to rigorous, collaborative, and multidisciplinary science
- Commitment to mentorship and development of the scientific workforce
- History of or strong potential for sustained extramural funding
- Experience integrating experimental, translational, or computational approaches
- Evidence of leadership in collaborative research or scientific program development
Benefits
- Competitive compensation
- Comprehensive faculty benefits program
- Mentorship and sponsorship
- Institutional support
Company overview
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a world-renowned pediatric research and treatment institution headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, dedicated to advancing cures for childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded in 1962 by entertainer Danny Thomas, it stands as the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted exclusively to children. The hospital operates on a unique funding model where families never receive bills for treatment, travel, housing, or food, with costs exceeding $2 billion annually primarily supported by donations through its fundraising organization ALSAC. St. Jude treats approximately 8,600 patients each year from all 50 states and around the world, with a focus on acute lymphoblastic leukemia, brain tumors, sickle cell disease, and infectious diseases. The institution employs over 7,000 staff members and maintains eight affiliate clinics across the United States. Through its St. Jude Global initiative, the hospital shares research and treatment protocols internationally, partnering with more than 350 institutions in over 90 countries. St. Jude has been instrumental in increasing childhood cancer survival rates from 20% in 1962 to over 80% today, while maintaining a robust research program that includes gene therapy, bone marrow transplantation, and precision medicine approaches.