SENIOR BIO-STATISTICIAN

Terms of employment: Contract

Duration of contract: One year with possibility of extension

Place of Work: Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa

Reporting to: National Data Management Center for health (NDMC), Lead

Quantity: One 

Background

The Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) has received financial support from the World Bank for Africa CDC Regional Investment Financing project to strengthen regional infectious disease detection and response systems. EPHI is the technical wing for the FMoH re-established as an exciting and dynamic autonomous federal government institute having its own legal entity in charge of three main objectives as expressed in the regulation number 301/2013: 1) Research on priority public health and nutrition issues (based on national public health research agendas), generate, translate and disseminate scientific and technological knowledge; 2) Surveillance for the early identification and detection of public health risks and prevent public health emergencies through adequate preparedness, alert, timely information to respond effectively and timely and ensure rapid recovery of the affected population from the impact of public health emergency; 3) national laboratory services on emerging and re-emerging public health emergency threats including referral diagnostic, back up services and analytical tests and support the capacity building of health and food science laboratories at the national level for quality laboratory services. In 2018, the institute has established a National Data Management Center for health (NDMC) to transform its data systems, evidence generation and data use for public health emergency responses.

 NDMC is responsible to centrally archive health and health related data; ensure data governance and security; create platforms for data sharing, access and use; process and manage data by applying robust data analytic technics, integration of datasets and apply data science to generate and synthesis evidence; and ensure evidence utilization for decision making by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and other relevant stakeholders at local, sub-national and national continental and international levels; ensure relevant capacities are built at local, national and regional levels and to serve as canter of excellence.

The NDMC  has the responsibility of implementing Africa CDC Regional Investment Financing Project (ACDCP) functions related to developing innovative interconnected and interoperable disease surveillance and reporting systems, networking regional and continental partners and with Africa CDC and to build data analytic, disease surveillance and reporting, undertaking integrated data analysis, evidence translation, and database development and evidence synthesis, digital platforms and data sharing and, will also serve as a regional and continental information hub. EPHI is therefore looking for a high calibre SENIOR BIO-STATISTICIAN with strong qualification and experience to contribute for the effective implementation of its aforementioned responsibilities.

Objective

The objective of this post is to ensure deployment of high calibre SENIOR BIO-STATISTICIAN, who could have technical expertise to support public health emergency data management and disease intelligence activities of the centre through developing identifying the relevant statistical issues in practical problems in health settings and by proposing and implementing an appropriate statistical design or analytical methodology in discussing biostatistical issues. To this end, EPHI wants to recruit SENIOR BIO-STATISTICIAN.

Roles and responsibilities

• Analyze public health survey data using statistical approaches such as longitudinal analysis, survival analysis, mixed effect modeling, logistic regression analyses, and model building techniques.
• Analyze archival data such as birth, death, and disease records using appropriate techniques
• Write research proposals or grant applications for submission to external bodies
• Read current literature, attend meetings or conferences, and talk with colleagues to keep abreast of methodological or conceptual developments in public health
• Prepare statistical data for inclusion in reports to concerned bodies
• Prepare articles for publication or presentation at national and international conferences
• Determine project plans, timelines, technical objectives, appropriate study methodologies for statistical aspects of public health research studies
• Develop or implement appropriate data analysis algorithms and write program code to analyze data using statistical analysis software such as STATA, R, SPSS, Epi-Info etc
• Write detailed analysis plans and descriptions of analyses and findings for research protocols or reports of public health research
• Plan or direct research studies related to public health
• Prepare data presentation tools to present results of public health research studies
• Monitor clinical trials or experiments to ensure adherence to established procedures or to verify the quality of data collected
• Draw conclusions or make predictions based on data summaries or statistical analyses
• Design surveys to assess health issues
• Supervise data collection and data management, including quality control procedures and the ethical handling of data
• Develop or use mathematical models to track changes in biological phenomena such as the spread of infectious diseases
• Design epidemiological research studies in collaboration with other professionals
• Review state-of-the-art medical research protocols and recommend appropriate statistical analyses
• Write scientific manuscripts and technical reports and publish in reputable journals
• Engage in other activities of the centre and the institute

Methodology

SENIOR BIO-STATISTICIAN will work closely with NDMC, Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM), Lab capacity and Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) units and support Africa CDC Regional Investment Financing Project functions related to surveillance data management, disease intelligence, developing innovative interconnected, interoperable disease surveillance and reporting systems

Job Requirements

• Background in Biostatistics, Statistics, Epidemiology, Mathematical and Statistical Modelling
• PhD in Statistics, Mathematics, Public Health Epidemiology, Mathematical and Statistical Modelling and 8 years of relevant experiences or
• MSc in Statistics, Mathematics, Public Health Epidemiology, Mathematical and Statistical Modelling and 10 years of relevant experiences

Desired Skills and Experiences

• Sound understanding of Epidemiological study design and the theory and application of the major areas of Biostatistics relevant to public health
• Understanding of complex statistical analyses to handle a variety of practical problems using modern statistical techniques and software
• Skills in data collection and data management, including quality control procedures and the ethical handling of data
• Skills to identify the relevant statistical issues in practical problems in medical/health settings and to propose and implement an appropriate statistical design and/or analytical methodology
• Experience in discussing biostatistical issues with clinical/health personnel and in the presentation of statistical results in a format suitable for publication in health-related journals or professional reports
• Technical skills to read methodological papers in the biostatistical literature and apply the methods described in those papers to practical problems
• Ability to work with multiple Epidemiologic data systems and multiple data teams
• Ability to work with research institutes, academia and the health sector, with local and international collaborators
• Demonstrated ability to produce policy relevant findings from rigorous systematic reviews, in-depth analysis of studies etc.
• Ability to identify evidence demands and supplies of MOH
• Ability to assess the quality of different sources of evidence to facilitate for health policy decision
• Published at least 6 public health related articles in reputable and peer reviewed journal (at least three of them as a first author);
• Advanced programming skills using R, Stata, SAS, etc will be required

How to Apply

Note  Interested applicants can register in Online through only  ethiojobs.net   send their CVs and relevant documents at the address given below within 10 working days from the first appearance of the announcement

Remarks: Please attach copies of transcripts, academic degree or recommendation letters together with the application. If not attached the copies you may be not short listed.