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The Task Force for Global Health (TFGH), based in Atlanta and founded nearly 40 years ago to advance health equity, works with partners in more than 150 countries to eliminate diseases, ensure access to vaccines and essential medicines, and strengthen health systems to protect populations. The Center for Vaccine Equity (CVE) works to assure all people have equal access to life-saving vaccines by expanding availability, supporting vaccine impact studies, and building delivery systems that facilitate access in developing countries. The ultimate goal is to build sustainable national adult vaccination platforms.

JOB DESCRIPTION: 

• The Director of Research for the Brighton Collaboration (BC) works with the Scientific Director, BC in assessing data and information leading to science-related decisions that govern BC’s work.
• The Director of Research will link directly with key partner organizations such as CEPI, CDC, Ministries of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), pharmaceutical partners, and other organizations involved in vaccine safety.
• The Director of Research will provide support and technical expertise to key funded projects (see below for initial allocations) and seek funding for additional projects as opportunity arises.
• Director of
  Research will represent the program in various national and international settings.
• Performs related responsibilities as required.

BRIGHTON COLLABORATION:

For the last two decades, the Brighton Collaboration has built trust in the safety of vaccines through rigorous science. It does this by developing standards [e.g., case definitions for adverse events following immunization (AEFI)/of special interest (AESI)], guidance, protocols, tools and international monitoring approaches for globally harmonized safety assessment of human vaccines (e.g., those in the WHO Expanded Program on Immunizations (EPI), vaccines for pandemic use, and others under development).

SPEAC Project (50%): The Safety Platform for Emergency vACcines (SPEAC) is a BC project funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI). The project supports CEPI’s mission to stimulate and accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and enable access to these vaccines for people during outbreaks by creating capacity and solutions for harmonized safety assessment of CEPI vaccines. SPEAC 1.0, the first phase of this partnership which began May of 2019 and is funded through August 2022, provided oversight of vaccine safety for all trials, and potentially identifying issues of relevance across priority platforms and pathogens. The mission of SPEAC 2.0 is to provide best available scientific evidence on the safety of CEPI vaccines to support timely benefit-risk assessment during the vaccine life cycle. SPEAC 2.0 will support CEPI 2.0 by  providing a harmonized vaccine safety assessment and monitoring service for CEPI and its awardees, in as many geographic regions where emerging pathogen vaccine studies will be conducted as budget permits with a focus on LMIC. It will do this by constantly reviewing and summarizing literature, evidence arising from expert groups and transforming this into educational and operational tools, definitions, guidelines, and best practice for harmonized safety assessment.

CARESAFE Project (30%): Within the context of the CVE’s COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction Program (COVP) in up to 50 low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), funded in February, 2021, the CARESAFE project builds on existing CDC Global Immunization Division (GID)/Global Immunization Safety Team (GIST) and Task Force for Global Health (TFGH)/Brighton Collaboration (BC) platforms and technical expertise to work with 4 LMIC to pilot several, many relatively novel to LMIC, approaches to strengthen their vaccine safety capacity.

Brighton Collaboration Program (20%): In collaboration with the Scientific Director, the Director of Research will develop a strategy for building on the legacy of the Brighton Collaboration and secure funding to strengthen the infrastructure and sustain ongoing efforts. In addition, the Scientific Director will have oversight of the website, staff, and collaborators including the BC Coordinators, volunteers, and science board.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

LEADERSHIP:

• Assumes a senior role in the planning, development, and implementation of various aspects of a complex global program.
• Serve as a liaison and key spokesperson as required to various committees and organizations.
• May lead policy formulation, strategy development, and management of daily operations.
• Collaborate with representatives from private, government, and international agencies to
  design, implement and/or evaluate program-related projects and strategies that effectively
  address the public needs associated with the program.
• Conducts research, designs new initiatives, and writes publishable articles and papers.
• Draft grant proposals and prepare/present associated reports to funding organizations
• Engage in fundraising initiatives on behalf of the program.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT:

• Manages the overall continuous quality improvement by working closely with the Scientific Director
• Manages the implementation of strategic, comprehensive, integrated communications plans for the
• Vaccine Safety Program staff and TFGH community.
• Implements policies, and prepares reports, agendas, and other work products.
• Implements Task Force policies and standard operating procedures.
• Provides day-to-day operations support for program staff.
• May represent the Collaboration on committees and at conferences and meetings.

CARESAFE Project:

• Provides day-to-day technical oversight, serves as the primary technical point of contact for
  the Project, provides support and technical expertise for in-country safety monitoring of
  COVID-19 vaccines and the ongoing assessment of their benefits and risks; provides
  technical advice on the implementation and evaluation of vaccine safety system
  strengthening activities in coordination with other technical partners.
• Oversees or supports
  related special projects including post-introduction evaluations.

SPEAC Project:

• Provide technical support to the SPEAC project and related working groups. Upon SPEAC
  2.0 proposal approval, ensure that the approved scope is well understood, the implementation planned, and the appropriate resources available to meet project objectives.
• Manage process for escalation of stakeholder issues to decision and recommended action
  Scientific dissemination (draft of scientific reports, conference, publications, etc.)
• Liaise with CEPI and SPEAC Program Managers on project status
• Prioritize and follow up on new requests from CEPI and/or developers
• Assess performance versus established goals and identify ways to address deficiencies or inefficiencies

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:

• Provides support and supervisory oversight to BC full-time staff, consultants, volunteers,
  and students; and assures they to assist them in achieving their performance goals.
• Provides input and guidance into the staffing process; actively participates in staff
  recruitment, development, and retention activities.
• In collaboration with the Scientific Director, provides guidance and recommendations for
  allocation of resources and the assignment of specific management roles across various
  Vaccine Safety Program projects.
• Responsible for working with program funders to ensure adequate financial and
  narrative reporting.

TRAVEL:

• Up to 20% International travel

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• MD or PhD with training in public health, epidemiology, or
  related field and five years of related work experience, or equivalent combination of experience,
  education, and training.
• Prefer at least five years working in vaccine safety or immunization program related fields.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience working with pharmacoepidemiology/vigilance/vaccine safety monitoring
  programs in both high and low-and middle-income countries.
• Familiarity with WHO COVID-19 vaccines: safety surveillance manual
• Strong skills in the design and field implementation of epidemiologic studies of rare
  outcomes, including protocol development, questionnaire design, ethical review,
  database management, training of field staff, overseeing field data collection, data entry
  and cleaning, and scientific and statistical data analysis.
• Experience working with immunization programs, regulatory authorities, and/or other
  disease surveillance programs in the development and updating of national guidelines
  and related tools.
• Experience with the design and implementation of active disease surveillance,
  operations research, and program evaluation methodologies.
• Experience working internationally with ministries of health and non-governmental
  organizations in developing countries.
• Knowledge of mobile/electronic data collection and computing platforms, and data file
  construction;
• Ability to think conceptually, strategically, organizationally, and analytically and develop
  pragmatic solutions to complex problems as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications.
• Experience working with U.S. government agencies, Ministries of Health, National
• Regulatory Authorities, especially low- and middle-income countries.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• Excellent written and verbal English skills.\
• Highly organized with demonstrated skills working with competing priorities, time and
  project management, and completing tasks under deadlines.
• Ability to handle confidential information in a discreet and professional manner.

NOTE: This role will be granted the opportunity to work from home temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, with intent to return to an Emory University location in the future.  Emory reserves the right to change remote work status with notice to employee.

To ensure the safety of our campus community, the COVID-19 vaccine is required. For more information on the University and Hospital policies and potential exemptions, please see our website.
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