Assistant or Associate Professor of Society, Human Development, and Health
The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) seek candidates for a position as assistant or associate professor. This is a tenure-ladder position, with the academic rank to be determined in accordance with the successful candidate's experience and productivity. The successful candidate will have a joint appointment in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at HSPH and in the Center for Community-Based Research in the Division of Population Sciences at DFCI. A core theme for research conducted in the Center for Community-Based Research is understanding the role of the social environment in cancer prevention and control.
Candidates should have a background in one or more of the following: community-based approaches to cancer prevention and control; health communications; cancer prevention in workplaces; dissemination research; and organizations and systems related to cancer prevention. Experience working with socioeconomically disadvantaged, racial/ethnic minorities, and/or new immigrant populations is also desirable, as are strong research methods skills (quantitative and/or qualitative). Potential/demonstrated success in grant-funded research will be a strong consideration. Candidates should hold a doctoral degree in any of the following fields: psychology, sociology, public health, organizational development, communication science, a related field within the social and behavioral sciences, or a professional doctoral degree in medicine or nursing.
The successful candidate will teach and advise students in the doctoral and master's programs in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, and will mentor postdoctoral fellows. The successful candidate will be a member of DFCI's Division of Population Sciences, which includes three major research programs (cancer outcomes, genetics/high-risk populations, and community-based prevention research), and of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, whose disease programs offer many collaborative opportunities. Numerous additional opportunities exist for interdisciplinary and collaborative work between HSPH, DFCI, and Harvard's other teaching hospitals. This position includes a highly competitive compensation and start-up package.
Please send a letter of application, including a statement of current and future research interests, a curriculum vitae, sample publications, and the names of four referees to the following address. Applicants should ask their four referees to write independently to this address.
Chair, Search Committee for SHDH/DFCI
c/o Linnea Benson, Search Administrator
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
44 Binney Street, LW 703
Boston, MA 02115
Harvard University is committed to increasing representation of women and minority members among its faculty, and particularly encourages applications from such candidates.
Priority Areas for this Search
We are looking to fill several open assistant/associate professor positions with this search. Research in the DFCI's Center for Community-based Research (CCBR) focuses broadly on the role of social context and environment on cancer-related risk behaviors and interventions to address them. Successful candidates, ideally, would complement the existing expertise and research interests in CCBR. We welcome candidates with expertise in the following three areas though we are open to candidates whose scholarly work cuts across more than one area.
Worksite wellness and health and safety
The DFCI's Center for Community-based Research has a long-standing commitment to research in worksite research, and has led the field in providing a scientific foundation for the integration of worksite health promotion and occupational health and safety. Most recently, in collaboration with the Harvard School of Public Health, CCBR has received funding from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to establish a Center of Excellence around worker health - the Center for Work, Health and Well-Being. Additional research is examining best practices for disseminating evidence-based approaches for promoting worker and worksite health. CCBR is seeking to identify an assistant/associate professor who can contribute to building this research portfolio. Candidates may bring expertise and training in the disciplines of occupational health and safety, health and social behavior, organizational development, work organization, industrial psychology, occupational sociology, and related fields. We hope to identify a candidate who will complement existing expertise within CCBR, including with interest and expertise in the integration of workplace prevention and protection, job stress, work-family balance, the economics of worksite health promotion/protection, dissemination of evidence-based workplace interventions, workplace policies and practices supporting worker health, the organization of work, and related topics.
Health Communication
The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), have made health communication a priority in response to several reports from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the developments in the field of public health and medicine. HSPH has started the Health Communication Concentration more than two years ago to provide training to masters and doctoral students in public health communications theory and applications. The Center for Community-Based Research of DFCI has made health communication a part of its mission with a robust research program focusing on health communication and communication inequalities in community contexts. Several ongoing projects ranging from addressing the digital divide to provide health information to communication's role in cancer survivorship have attracted funding from the federal agencies and foundations. The Health Communication Core of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center with the presence of Enhancing Communications for Health Outcomes (ECHO) Laboratory provides an optimal platform to conduct formative research and message testing in a laboratory context. CCBR seeks a candidate who is interested in pursuing health communication across the cancer control continuum-prevention, detection, treatment to survivorship/end of life. Ideal candidates will complement the current expertise in CCBR and may have interests and background in media and message effects, public health communication campaigns, e-health, organizational communication with focus on dissemination, social marketing, health behavior theories with emphasis on communication, risk communication or related areas of health communications. Strong background in research design and analyses is desirable.
Organizations and Systems Related to Health
CCBR faculty conducts a significant amount of research in organization settings, including in workplaces, health care settings, community organizations, and media organizations. We are seeking an assistant/associate professor who has training in organizational behavior and the methods used to study organizations of a variety of sizes. We are particularly interested in individuals who wish to examine health-related program implementation and/or dissemination within organizational settings. We hope that the individual selected will contribute to research activities across a variety of setting, and develop or continue their own body of scholarly work.