Applications are invited for permanent post of Associate Professor in Skin Cancer within UCD School of Medicine.

Skin cancer continues to place an ever-increasing personal and health-system burden both globally and in especially in countries with a predominance of citizens with skin of low pigmentation. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in humans, with more cases diagnosed than for all other cancers combined. Keratinocyte (basal cell/squamous cell) and melanocyte (melanoma) cancers represent most skin cancers, with an annual treatment cost in the US estimated at $8.1 billion. Melanoma incidence is increasing by 4%-6% annually in fair-skinned populations, and despite accounting for only 2% of all skin cancer cases is responsible for 80% of skin cancer deaths. Ireland has the highest melanoma (men) death rates in Europe, with a ~2% lifetime risk of diagnosis.

This will be the first academic position in Ireland dedicated to skin-cancer research and will focus on building capacity in knowledge of carcinogenesis in human skin - our body's largest and most exposed organ. UCD has a strong track record in cutaneous research, particularly since the establishment in 2011 of the only dedicated academic center for dermatologic research and education on the island of Ireland.

The UCD School of Medicine, together with the UCD Charles Institute of Dermatology, has created a position for an ambitious mid-career investigator who will build a cutting-edge research programme that develops and applies modern cancer biology to human skin, to address key biomedical problems for ultimate translational / clinical solutions.

This post is based in the Charles Institute but will also sit at the interface two sister UCD institutes; Systems Biology Ireland http://www.ucd.ie/sbi/ and Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research https://www.ucd.ie/conway/, as well as the wider UCD cancer researcher communities. Cancer is a strategic research area of UCD. https://www.ucd.ie/research/spotlights/cancer/

The position is expected to leverage a highly interdisciplinary, vibrant environment to work with clinicians, biologists, computational colleagues, and others to build a strong research programme and to contribute to educational efforts in these areas. The postholder is also expected to raise grant funding, participate in, and lead strategic research initiatives in this area, and participate in teaching and educational activities.

The UCD School of Medicine (SoM, http://www.ucd.ie/medicine/) is one of Ireland's leading medical schools within the country's largest University. It has an extensive portfolio of research, education and training programmes offering over 60 educational programmes, delivered by research-active academic staff within a modern health science campus and by experienced clinicians across a large clinical training network. SoM has multiple research centres (http://www.ucd.ie/medicine/ ourresearch/researchcentres/), and UCD is the lead academic partner in the Ireland East Hospital Group, the largest hospital group in the country.

The UCD Charles Institute of Dermatology (https://www.ucd.ie/charles/) is a multi-disciplinary academic research centre (capacity 70 researchers) engaged in the study of human skin in both health and disease states, with a focus on genetics, inflammation, wound-healing, cancer, and pigmentation science. We use innovative technologies (transcriptomics, proteomics, interactomics, metabolomics etc.) to complement state-of-the-art imaging, molecular and cellular biology approaches.

Together, we aim to make meaningful advances in our understanding of how the skin, our body's largest organ, can be maintained in a healthy state and how diseases of the skin may be tackled for patient benefit.

95 Associate Professor Salary Scale: €72,731 - €102,712 per annum.

Appointment will be made on scale and in accordance with the Department of Finance guidelines

Closing date: 17:00hrs (local Irish time) on 4th November 2022.

Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 17:00hrs (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system. UCD are unable to accept late applications. UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CV's submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned. Note: Hours of work for academic staff are those as prescribed under Public Service Agreements. For further information please follow link below: https://www.ucd.ie/hr/t4media/Academic Contract.pdf. Prior to application, further information (including application procedure) should be obtained from the Work at UCD website: https://www.ucd.ie/workatucd/jobs/.