KEMRI Wellcome Trust Kenya Jobs - Research Medical Officers Vacancies

The Epidemiology & Demography Department at KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme is advertising for three research-training positions.

These are open to recently qualified doctors with little or no research experience and include sponsorship to undertake a Masters in Epidemiology.

The posts will be funded until September 2021 in the first instance.

Post 1- The post holder will be responsible for aiding day-to-day coordination and leading safety monitoring on a clinical trial of fractional doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (FPCV).

Post 2- Post holder will be responsible for day-to-day activities for clinical, radiological and laboratory surveillance of pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease in children and adults at the Kilifi County Hospital (KCH) for the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Impact Study (PCVIS).

Post 3- Post holder will contribute to proposal development, organisation and coordination of field research activities for a multisite expanded nasopharyngeal carriage survey study aligned to PCVIS.

Although these are the primary responsibilities, the three post-holders will work as a team and will be expected to share the load, as guided by their line manager, to ensure an even distribution of work.

All positions include on the job training in research methods and programme management as well as roles in data management, field-laboratory liaison, sample/specimen management, analysis, and preparation of publications.

This is in addition to enrollment in a sponsored part-time distance learning Masters in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (subject to successful application).

Job Dimensions:

The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Collaborative Research Programme (KWTRP) researches diseases with the highest burden in developing countries for which it is recognised internationally within the fields of international public health, clinical tropical medicine, epidemiology and immunology.

The programme aims to maximise opportunities for learning and training in order to maintain a cadre of highly skilled and experienced staff from all disciplines.

The Kenya Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Impact Study (PCVIS) domiciled in the Epidemiology and Demography Department (EDD) is a before-after study of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) embedded within the demographic surveillance system, with specific analyses for vaccine effectiveness against carriage, IPD, clinical and radiologically confirmed pneumonia.

In the current phase of the project, the focus is on analyses for serotype replacement disease, individual level and indirect vaccine protection.

The extended carriage studies are designed to examine alterations in the schedule of PCV.

Post holders will work with the FPCV Trial Manager, PCVIS Clinical Epidemiologist and Principal Investigator to contribute, where applicable, to tasks preparatory to projects including developing and submitting proposals and protocols, developing study work plans, organising and conducting training for project-specific staff.

Post holders will also be involved in higher level responsibilities for ensuring field and laboratory procedures are carried out to quality standards as well as data analysis, preparation of reports and manuscripts.

Key Responsibilities

Essential