This Senior Program Officer (SPO) reports to the ICO Deputy Director (DD) of Infectious Diseases and is dedicated to the LF elimination strategy (50%) and the VL elimination strategy (50%) in the foundation’s India Country Office (ICO). The successful candidate will work in close collaboration with the DD, two other dedicated ICO NTD Program Officers (focused on Elimination Programs and Program Strategy & Management), ICO Program Officers representing state teams, and Seattle-based Program Officers, and multiple external stakeholders including government, grantees, and development partners.
This person is the lead epidemiologist for the ICO NTD team (specifically working on LF and VL) and will serve in a key technical data translation role. This person will view and analyze data in real time, leading to the refinement of strategies and course corrections to support GoI to deliver its elimination goals on both LF and VL. This person will contribute to the development of predictive models and interpreting modeling implications for programming and strategy.
This individual will partner, develop, and manage a portfolio of grants and contracts to support data acquisition, analysis, modeling, surveillance, and use for the delivery of the country’s LF and VL elimination goals in India. This person will have experience analyzing data to determine programmatic needs in a public health setting and influencing change decisions or policy makers using data. As an example, this position will support the analysis of data to determine programmatic needs, such as taking the decision s to whether the stopping rules for MDA for LF have been met, delivery of the last mile of VL elimination, and measurement of overall programmatic impact. This individual will support primary data collection and evaluation studies and will contribute to the design and transition of sustainable surveillance systems for NTDs in India. This position requires expertise in applied epidemiology, data translation, data use, integrated thinking, and management skills, as well as expertise in program and project monitoring and evaluation. Grant-making experience is welcome but not required.
The successful candidate will utilize a unique blend of rigorous epidemiological and technical expertise, global strategic visioning, keen skill in partnership at all levels, and detailed attention to execution.
- Have the primary responsibility to ensure programmatic and operational research data are effectively used to help devise, implement, and modify LF and VL elimination strategies in India
- Lead the ICO NTD team’s strategic data activities, applying strong applied epidemiological skills to determine data needs, analyze data and ensure data use for program tracking and course corrections; strong familiarity and experience with disease surveillance and modeling/forecasting efforts
- As part of providing technical assistance to building surveillance systems, this individual will also contribute to strengthening usability of existing sources of NTD data (via the advancement of FAIR data principles)
- Contribute to strategic discussions with partners and GoI on India’s post VL elimination strategies and how to operationalize these strategies
- Consult with grantees and partners, including GoI, to maximize the impact and synergy of strategic data analyses and evaluations across diseases, inform on projects and investments and to ensure optimal learning and use of data to drive strategy, activities, and policy. This may include meeting high level government partners, participating in site visits, providing operational guidance, and convening strategic meetings of key stakeholders
- Act as an expert epidemiological resource among the NTD team and as a consultative expert for other teams across the foundation as needed
- Lead the identification of relevant data sources, promote data standards, and coordinate data curation in support of analysis and use
- Be a broad and open-minded strategic thinker on integration activities across diseases, across partners, and across the vertical and horizontal ecosystems
- Review letters of inquiry and grant proposals and provide clear, concise and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding, including drafting and editing proposal summaries and progress reports for existing grants for review by foundation leadership
- Lead meetings with grantees to take stock of progress and deliverables and review progress reports and summarize developments for the both programs
- Consult with grantees to achieve desired impact of grants; conduct site visits when appropriate, provide technical guidance, and apply and evaluate milestone-based performance objectives
- In depth epidemiological and biostatistical knowledge, and proven experience in applied public health; experience with disease modeling and forecasting
- In depth knowledge of infectious diseases/NTDs; preferably with at least LF, VL or both
- Experience with operational/applied research design and methodologies
- Experience as a technical resource to teams and proven leadership on impact evaluation, cost effectiveness and decision analysis
- Comfortable reviewing incomplete data and quickly turning analyses around for strategic decisions, course correction, and information sharing
- Understanding of strategies for designing and automating the process of quality data collection in a variety of settings and sites
- Understanding data curation and adherence to data standards
- Understanding and able to deploy strategies to ensure high quality data acquisition
- Strong analytical, writing and verbal skills for communicating with a broad and diverse audience
- Experience working with governments, Ministries of Health, NGOs and Academic Institutions, as well as with regional, multi-country institutions such as WHO
- Experience advocating the impact potential of programmatic interventions and communicating with a broad and diverse audience
- Proven ability to lead and influence others in a constructive manner and to build and sustain collaborative relationships
- Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, and demonstrating culturally sensitive behavior with a diverse range of people
- Comfortable in the field setting for extended periods and working at all levels of the Indian health system, from village to national
- Strong understanding of shaping and managing sustainable and scalable ventures
- Effective as a collaborator in complex internal and external organizations
- Ability to work with efficiency and diplomacy
- Successfully worked in India for a significant period; gaining an appreciation for the complexities of implementing and managing field-based programs
- Able to think broadly across disease entities and seek synergies and integration
- Experience in strategic planning, strategy implementation and evaluation of strategic interventions
- Strong competence working within a highly matrix environment where impact is achieved through collaboration with diverse colleagues/teams as well as externally within a network of grantees and partners
- Demonstrated ability to work with a wide variety of partners (e.g. government, development, etc.) from a diverse range of geographies, cultures, across sectors and expertise
- Ability to work in a complex team environment delivering on multiple outcomes; “leading from behind”
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, able to effectively synthesize information to reach diverse audiences, build consensus and be the voice/represent the foundation, including in high-level meetings
- Strong quantitative analytical skills
- Ability to travel up to 30% domestically and participate in international meetings relevant to global elimination of LF and VL