Cancer Survivorship Investigators

Cancer Survivorship and Supportive Oncology
Full, Associate, or Assistant Professor Positions

The University of Kentucky NCI-designated Comprehensive Markey Cancer Center is seeking exceptional Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor candidates for tenure track, regular title series positions, with a focus on individuals who lead independent research programs in cancer survivorship and/or supportive oncology. Survivorship research that spans the continuum from point of diagnosis to end of life is welcome. Multiple hires are expected. An attractive startup package, premium and contiguous space, and excellent benefits will be provided. The Markey Cancer Center has seen transformational growth in recent years, culminating in the National Cancer Institute designating Markey as a Comprehensive Cancer Center in 2023.

Markey Cancer Center’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program is undergoing tremendous growth within the area of cancer survivorship, catalyzed by a new survivorship research initiative to bolster research infrastructure and foster clinical and community partnerships with researchers. Survivorship researchers with expertise in dissemination and implementation science, cancer care delivery, and/or health equity are especially of interest. Leadership opportunities within the Markey Cancer Center may be available, depending on candidate interests and experience.

Candidates will have the opportunity and be supported to build and maintain a high quality, extramurally funded research program; contribute to our teaching mission; mentor doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows; and provide service to the University and extremely collaborative academic community.

Situated on a campus with all six health profession colleges, the Markey Cancer Center is located within a vibrant and expanding basic, clinical, and population research community with ample opportunities for collaboration within and across its research programs (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center/research). The Markey Cancer Center serves a statewide catchment area with a population of 4.4 million residents and extraordinary cancer prevalence. In its mission to reduce the cancer burden with a focus on Kentucky and its most vulnerable populations through research, prevention, treatment, education and community engagement, the center continues to make significant strides in advancing access to quality cancer care; implementing bold transformational research spanning basic, translational, and population science, including clinical trials to address Kentucky’s unique cancer burden; and introducing innovative population-level interventions to accelerate translational impact in reducing challenging health disparities and significantly impact patients in the state and the nation.

Candidates will have cores available to them that support a broad spectrum of molecular, cellular, animal, human and behavioral/epidemiology studies for advancement of the overall mission of the center. These cores have the capacity to contribute to the entire translational continuum, from basic and preclinical studies to translational, bioinformatics, clinical, cancer control/prevention, epidemiologic and population-based studies. The cores include biostatistics and bioinformatics (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center/research/srf/bbsrf), biospecimen procurement and translational pathology (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center/research/srf/bptp), cancer research informatics (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center/research/srf/cri), flow cytometry and immune monitoring (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center/research/srf/flow), oncogenomics (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center/research/srf/og), patient oriented and population sciences (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center/research/srf/popsrf) and redox metabolism (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/markey-cancer-center/research/srf/rmsrf).

Markey Cancer Center also supports disease-focused collaborative groups that provide scientific forums drawing investigators across the range of research with a primary goal to understand disease phenotypes in the catchment area and use this knowledge to develop biomarkers, inform clinical trials and implement population-level interventions.

The University of Kentucky is a leading land-grant and public research university located in the beautiful Bluegrass region of Central Kentucky. Counted among the highest level of Carnegie Research institutions, the university is in the midst of aggressive efforts to continue its rise to one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Along with its integrated and rapidly growing health system, UK HealthCare (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/), the university has a number of additional leading centers and institutes including the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science (https://www.ccts.uky.edu/), The Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/barnstable-brown-diabetes-center), Kentucky Neuroscience Institute (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/kentucky-neuroscience-institute) and the Gill Heart & Vascular Institute (https://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/gill-heart-vascular-institute).

Lexington (https://www.visitlex.com/) is a cosmopolitan city (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMDstCQHusM) of ~517,000 inhabitants that was voted amongst the 50 best places to live in the U.S. in 2022. The city is strategically located with non-stop flights to 17 major U.S. cities via Blue Grass Airport (LEX), located 15 minutes away from downtown as well within a day’s drive to many major cities (e.g., Chicago, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.). Lexington is also home to an outstanding public school system. The University of Kentucky offers an intellectually vibrant and collegial research community spanning multiple colleges and centers with a strong commitment to inclusive excellence. In FY23, University of Kentucky researchers held a grants and contracts portfolio that totaled $479 million.

Qualified candidates will be investigators or clinician investigators who have an active research portfolio of extramurally funded, rigorous and innovative research in cancer survivorship, or show strong potential to obtain extramural funds. They should demonstrate a commitment to mentoring undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate, junior faculty, and/or clinician scientists, commensurate with rank, and demonstrate a desire and ability to work collaboratively across disciplines. The ideal candidate will help further the intellectual excellence and impact of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program. At Markey Cancer Center, we firmly believe that communities fuel the intellectual curiosity and innovation critical to achieving a cancer-free tomorrow. Our commitment extends to the recruitment and retention of an increasingly supportive faculty, which is needed to best serve our catchment area and reduce cancer burden for all.

As Markey Cancer Center is a university-based matrix cancer center, it is anticipated that faculty hired into this position will have an academic appointment in the department most aligned with their discipline. This may include the College of Medicine (e.g., Behavioral Science, Family Medicine), College of Public Health (e.g., Epidemiology & Environmental Health), College of Arts & Sciences (e.g., Psychology, Sociology, Neuroscience), College of Health Sciences, or College of Nursing, all contiguously located in Lexington. Candidates should hold an PhD, MD, MD/PhD, or equivalent terminal degree.

Interested parties can apply directly through the WittKieffer Candidate Portal at https://apptrkr.com/5811027, or by sending resumes, confidential nominations, and inquiries to Jeff Schroetlin and Stacey Carbol at [email protected]. Applications should include a curriculum vita, as well as a cover letter with description of cancer research interests, teaching philosophy, and a discussion of future research plans. Job postings will remain open until the positions are filled. Competitive candidates will receive an invitation to visit the University of Kentucky for an interview.

Links to apply (two similar positions available): University of Kentucky Applicant Site | Assistant, Associate or Full Professor for Cancer Survivorship and Supportive Oncology
https://ukjobs.uky.edu/postings/546288
https://ukjobs.uky.edu/postings/547120

The University of Kentucky is an Equal Opportunity University that values diversity and inclusion. Individuals with disabilities, minorities, veterans, women, and members of other underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply. Upon offer of employment, successful applicants must pass a pre-employment drug screen and undergo a national background check as required by University of Kentucky Human Resources.