In partnership with Epicentre

Context

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent humanitarian organization providing medical aid to victims of man-made or natural disasters, epidemics and endemics. Its Operational Centre in Geneva is responsible for medical assistance programmes in 24 countries.

Epicentre is an organisation created by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in 1986. We conduct field epidemiology, training, and research activities for MSF interventions. Our activities for populations in precarious situations are led from Uganda, Niger, and France, and through the programs of MSF and others. They mainly concern infectious diseases and malnutrition.

Mission

Epicentre is looking for an Epidemiologist / Infectious Disease Modeller (M/F) to work within the Department of Intervention Epidemiology and Training. The successful candidate will be responsible to conduct a study on the impact of reactive Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) campaigns. The objective of the study is to generate evidence for the efficient planning and implementation of such campaigns, in the context of the global roadmap to eliminate cholera. To this end, the person will 1) construct and curate a multi-country cholera incidence dataset at a subnational level and link it to existing data about past reactive OCV campaigns, 2) perform a descriptive analysis of the data, 3) (co-)develop and implement statistical and mechanistic models to measure the impact of OCV campaigns, 4) lead interaction with national stakeholders in cholera affected countries and interact with international partners and stakeholders. In addition, the person will be responsible for writing the study protocol and obtaining all required ethical and regulatory approvals, writing reports and scientific publications, and conducting training and capacity building with in-country partners.

Your Profile

Education & Experience

• Higher degree (PhD or equivalent) in Epidemiology, Public health, Biostatistics, Life Science or similar with strong analytical, technical, and statistical skills.
• Experience in epidemiological modelling of infectious diseases and translating model outputs into learnings applicable to public health.
• 3-5 years of experience working in a research environment and/or translating research into policy, experience working in the sector of international/aid organisations in low resource settings.
• Experience in interacting with Ministries of Health, national and international partner organisations, experience collaborating with international and humanitarian organisations and in low resource settings.
• Experience working on cholera and/or other vaccine preventable disease outbreaks and on vaccination policy.
• Experience working with research funders an asset.
• Availability and willingness to travel up to 50% of time during peak periods.

Essential Skills

• Excellent knowledge of scientific programming tools including R, R-markdown, Git for collaborative coding. Knowledge of other programming languages is an asset. Experience in the design and use of large, shared databases. Competences in data science, data analytics and visualisation.
• Extensive knowledge and experience in the design, calibration and validation of applied epidemiological models of infectious diseases relevant to public health and translatable to policy.
• You are known for your organisational and analytical skills and for your excellent oral and written communication. You are used to respecting short deadlines, prioritising needs, responding to high standards and paying attention to details.
• You have an excellent conduct of English, including oral communication and scientific writing, as well as intermediate level of French.

Terms of Employment

• Full-time position 100% (40h/week)
• Fixed-term contract, 18 months
• Working place : Geneva, with Epicentre
• Ideal start date: February 1^st, 2024

How to apply

Candidates submit their application following the requirements:  CV 2 p. max. – letter of motivation 1p. max. – in French or English.

Deadline for application is November 12^th, 2023. Nevertheless, we reserve the right to close the position early if we consider the number and quality of applications received to be sufficient.

APPLY HERE

The applications will be treated confidentially.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

At MSF, we are committed to an inclusive culture that encourages and supports the diverse voices of our staff members. We strive to create workplaces where teams of people with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, perspectives, ideas and experiences work together for the social mission of MSF to create better outcomes for our patients and the communities we work with.

We welcome applications from individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, nationalities, races, background, religions, beliefs, ability status, and all other diversity characteristics.

MSF does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo reference checks.