These two positions are part of the research project “Where Precision Medicine and Operations Management Meet – Learning Optimal Decision Policies in Hospitals” (POM-D-H), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
The project is led by Dr. Justus Vogel from the School of Medicine (MED-HSG), and Prof. Dr. med. Urs Pietsch from HOCH – Cantonal Hospital of St.Gallen.
The project brings together a strong research and clinical network, including the University Hospital Zurich, the University Hospital Bern, the University Hospitals of Geneva, and HOCH – Cantonal Hospital of St.Gallen.
The project lies at the intersection of precision medicine and hospital operations and aims to develop and evaluate data-driven decision policies in hospitals using causal machine learning (CML). By leveraging large-scale clinical data (tens of thousands of patients described by thousands of features), the project seeks to develop CML models that improve patient outcomes while enhancing hospital efficiency and resource allocation.
As PhD-candidates and research assistants, you will:

• Refine, answer and test the project's research questions with quantitative, empirical methods using large sets of real-world data
• Prepare high-quality manuscripts for publication in top-tier peer-reviewed journals across medicine, operations research, and analytics
• Present your research results on international conferences
• Support the supervision of bachelor and master theses, and student assistants
• Work and communicate effectively within a diverse teams in a structured manner and work directly with the leadership team and doctors
• Enroll in a PhD-program of the University of St. Gallen; we highly recommend the GPEF program (Doctor of Philosophy in Economics and Econometrics)

We are looking for two highly qualified and motivated candidates:

• Outstanding Master's degree in the field of (health) economics or econometrics, statistics, Machine Learning, data science, or operations research with a clear quantitative and mathematical focus with a grade point average of at least 5.0 or the equivalent for non-Swiss degrees (corresponds for instance to a 2.0 in DE and AT)
• Experience in handling large datasets is required
• Strong analytical skills are required (e.g., microeconomics, applied econometrics, causal inference, data science, machine learning, mixed-integer programming, etc.)
• You show initiative and drive your research topics independently and with high motivation
• Advanced knowledge of at least one programming language (R or python)
• High motivation to improve econometric and data science skillset
• Outstanding teamwork ability
• Result-oriented working style with a high degree of initiative, creativity, and team spirit
• High motivation and ability to work on multiple research questions at the same time
• Confident, open, constructive, and engaging communication style internally and externally
• Knowledge about European or other health systems is a plus but not required
• Experience in hospital management is a plus but not required
• Very good knowledge of English, both written and spoken; fluent in German and/ or French is a plus

Dr. Justus Vogel
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