It is with great interest that I write to you about the position as full-time faculty in the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine. I have extensively worked in an academical environment throughout my career and I have found teaching and supervising extremely rewarding. I am Willard Gilbert, senior post-doctoral researcher at Food Innovation and Health lab at Maastricht University and I am writing to introduce myself and express my interest for the position.

My career has allowed me to develop experience in a diverse set of disciplines, being able to work both with big data and with novel genetic engineering techniques, both in academic and big corporation environments. During my PhD, in bacterial genetics and virulence, I have used microarrays technology to characterized important genetic apparatus for the streptococcal species I was working on. For the past years, I have been involved in a human explorative intervention study focused on highlighting the impact of different probiotic products on human physiology. This project has been challenging but rewarding due to its multidisciplinary nature. My roles in this project have allowed me to expand my skill set into areas which I am now motivated in, such as large -omics dataset management, analysis and interpretation, as well as communication with industrial partners. In particular, metabolomics, (meta)transcriptomics and proteomics were part of my every day work file. In addition, I was responsible for writing the statistical analysis plan, performance reviews and the intermediate and final reports. I was also involved in the details of the budget management, allocation and spending. For the final phase, I am leading the preparation of several manuscripts based on the various datasets we have acquired. Thoughout my academic career, I had the pleasure to successfully supervise 11 students, 2 of which  entered the PhD program of our department. Moreover, every year I was teacher assistant and/or lecturer of the courses organized by the Host-Microbes Interaction group. I found interacting with students one of the most rewarding and motivating aspect of my work, often underrated and considered more of a burden than an honor in  the academic environment. I do believe instead that transmitting knowledge and passion for science is one of the most important roles in our society, and one of the reasons I have always worked in the university.

I have an acute curiosity, excellent team player, and I am particular flexible, I have successfully worked with plants (as biofactory for potential vaccine production, master thesis), bacteria (Streptococcus suis new genetic tool development and genetic studies, PhD), zebrafish (new infection model for S.suis) and human subjects (explorative dietary intervention study, postdoc). Due to my experience, skills and passion I believe I am a good candidate for the position.

Please let me know if you require and further information.

 

Looking forward to hearing from you!