Tesfa Dejenie Habtewold (BSc, Msc)
Department of Epidemiology
University of Groningen
Hanzeplein 1, 9713 GZ, Groningen
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +316 3015 6447

06 November 2019

Prof. <Name>, MD, PhD
Professor, Global Health and Infectious Diseases
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center (Radboudumc)
Geert Grooteplein Zuid 8, 6525 GA, Nijmegen (UMCN)
Tel: +31 (0)24 361 88 22

Dear Prof. <Name>,

I am writing to apply for the postdoctoral position of tuberculosis and diabetes in Uganda and Tanzania at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center (Radboudumc) as advertised on academictransfer (https://www.academictransfer.com/en/). I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Epidemiology at University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), working under the supervision of professor Marike Boezen (respiratory system Epidemiologist), professor Richard Bruggeman (Neuropsychiatrist), and Dr. Behrooz Z. Alizadeh (digestive system diseases Epidemiologist). I expect to submit my thesis in the coming three to six months and receive my Ph.D. degree in September 2020. My direct research and working experiences on big cohort data in the Netherlands and Africa (Ethiopia) along with my international Ph.D. degree in epidemiology make me a strong candidate for the postdoctoral position.

The aim of my Ph.D. project is to unravel the comorbidity between diabetes and other cardiometabolic diseases and schizophrenia spectrum disorders using six-year longitudinally collected family-based cohort data in Dutch population that included patients, siblings, and controls. During my Ph.D., I conducted a systematic review (one chapter) and applied data-driven diseases subtyping method, multilevel analysis and polygenic risk score analysis (four chapters). Parallel to my Ph.D. study, I have also published articles on diabetes, and diabetes and tuberculosis using data from the Ethiopian population and globally published studies.

I see this project as the starting point for my long-term research goal of investigating the comorbidities of diabetes including tuberculosis, expanding knowledge and skills in big consortium data analysis, and working in a diverse and competitive international research group. Elucidating the impact of diabetes on tuberculosis treatment outcomes, and building and strengthening the capacity of partners in Uganda and Tanzania will be my top priority during my postdoctoral work. I received broad training in Clinical and Psychosocial Epidemiology and Nursing during my master’s degree study in the Graduate School of Medical Science at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands and in the College of Health Science at Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, respectively. At the same time, I have actively taken (summer)courses and seminar classes in epidemiological study design (including RCT studies), applied longitudinal data analysis, mixed models for clustered data, group-based trajectory modeling and machine learning.

I am excited about the opportunity for working with international research group and mentored by you. Enclosed you will find my CV. Please, let me know if I can provide additional information or materials required for my application. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration of my application. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Tesfa D. Habtewold