Epidemiologist, Senior Technical Advisor, Africa

Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with the majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org/

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

Overview of Role:

CHAI is seeking a highly motivated epidemiologist with strong public health experience and analytical skills to oversee and guide the activities and operations of the epidemiology team based in Africa. The successful candidate will lead a team of epidemiologists working directly with government counterparts and the CHAI staff who support them to assess, design, and scale-up disease surveillance systems; conduct robust epidemiological and spatial data analysis; monitor and evaluate the success of ongoing efforts to achieve malaria and NTD elimination; and translate results for decision-makers. The individual will collaborate with a diverse team based across multiple countries and regions, government programs, academics and public health agencies. The successful candidate will possess strong communication, organizational, and management skills; work independently to drive implementation; be a global health leader; and have deep personal commitment to producing results. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities including resourcefulness, tenacity, independence, patience, humility, and strong work ethic.

Responsibilities

Regional Strategy:

Serve as the lead focal point for malaria and NTD surveillance and analytics workstreams across Africa.
* Serve as an expert/technical advisor and epidemiological thought leader to CHAI teams.
* Contribute to building and implementing CHAI’s strategic vision for malaria and NTDs in Africa, focusing on robust use of epidemiological data and analysis to inform strategic processes.
* Along with digital health colleagues, develop and communicate a coherent vision for malaria and NTD information systems within and across countries, and influence internal and external stakeholders and initiatives to drive the vision forward.
* Support rigorous evidence-based planning of intervention deployment, and design and implement approaches to monitor and evaluate effectiveness of current government interventions and identify opportunities for improvement.
Technical project implementation and management:
* Management and oversight of work across Africa on analytics and surveillance workstreams to support evidence-based decisions. Including but not limited to:
* M&E of existing and new surveillance processes and platforms.
* Development and deployment of surveillance system digital tools and platforms, with CHAI Digital Health staff.
* M&E and impact analysis of integrated campaign digitization projects (ICD) with CHAI Digital Health.
* Design and implementation of operational research projects related to surveillance, intervention effectiveness, and entomology.
* Routine data review and analysis for decision-making.
* Thought partnership and support to interpret analytical outputs for internal and external communication, ensuring proper data management practices and rigorous statistical analysis are conducted.
Team management and partner collaboration:
* Directly manage, onboard, provide technical mentorship, supervision, guidance, and training to a small team of junior and mid-level epidemiologists based across Africa; provide guidance, direction, and mentorship to staff across the region.
* Assess and adapt staffing needs across Africa regional teams and across multiple workstreams.
* Contribute to the formulation of annual work plans across multiple countries.
* Work directly with technical teams, country teams and governmental staff to better integrate epidemiological, entomological, and programmatic data use and analysis into routine programmatic activities at all levels of the health system.
* Cultivate and establish relationships with academic institutions, NGOs, and regional organizations working on data analysis or surveillance to inform malaria and NTD goals, which may include management of contracts with external partners.
Communication and knowledge management:
* Lead documentation and M&E processes for CHAI analytics and surveillance work across Africa.
* Manage and develop resources and best practices to share lessons across teams; synthesize and disseminate findings through high-quality presentations, reports, and publications.
* Represent CHAI at external technical meetings, acting as the face of the organization to academic/technical partners within the region, including via the dissemination of findings through high-quality presentations, reports, and publications.
* Review and/or contribute to the development of the technical sections of grant deliverables (presentations, programmatic reports, grant proposals, scoping documents).
Qualifications
DrPH or PhD in Public Health, Epidemiology or related field, or similar experience
* 7 years of working experience related to the above responsibilities with increasing levels of responsibility and leadership
* Knowledge of malaria, NTDs and/or other major global infectious disease problems
* Enthusiasm for applying research methods to solve global health problems focusing on malaria, NTDs and/or other major global infectious disease concerns
* Experience contributing to strategic planning through rigorous data use processes
* Experience working with mathematical/geospatial modelling partners and outputs
* Experience in working and communicating with government officials, multilateral organizations and other external partners
* Proven experience leading teams comprised of mid-level and junior technical staff
* Demonstrated experience managing multiple epidemiological projects across various countries
* At least 2 lead-authored peer-reviewed scientific publications in the fields of epidemiology, infectious disease control and/or biostatistics
* Experience with designing, conducting, and analyzing epidemiological surveys
* Experience in evaluating, working with, and strengthening disease surveillance systems
* Exceptional skills in the epidemiological analysis of health data and the application of analyzes for decision-making
* Previous experience conducting statistical and geospatial analysis of health data using R, QGIS, or other software packages (ArcMap, STATA, Python etc.)
* High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and internet applications
* Ability to work independently in remote and unstructured settings and to adapt to new environments and challenges
* Ability to collaborate and operate as part of a multicultural team
* Experience working in fast-paced, output-oriented environments
* Exceptional written and oral communication skills
* Willingness to travel extensively (approximately 30%)
* Fluency in English
Advantages:
* Experience in programming and/or working with surveillance platforms (e.g. DHIS2), data collection tools (e.g. ODK) and/or data visualization applications (e.g. Tableau)
* Experience living or working in Africa
* French and/or Portuguese language skills
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