Job Description

Additional information:

• The MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) is an exceptional health and population research center in the Wits School of Public Health
• The Unit supports a major research infrastructure underpinned by a health and socio-demographic surveillance system (HDSS), a form of longitudinal population registration, covering a substantial portion of the Bushbuckridge subdistrict of rural Mpumalanga Province adjacent to Mozambique that has been in operation since 1992 coupled with observational and interventional studies along the life course
• The Wits-Agincourt Unit will participate in an EDCTP-funded project addressing the management of Paediatric Pneumonia (a significant contributor to under-5 mortality) and Antimicrobial Resistance
• This is a multi-PI, Pan-African-EU consortium, anchored by the Wits-Agincourt Unit
• The project will deploy cutting-edge technology (mobile phone/tablet-based Ultrasound devices) in low-resource settings (in South Africa, Tanzania, and Senegal) to bridge gaps in access to medical diagnostics
• It will also address skills gaps through the development of AI tools for ultrasound interpretation as well as clinical decision-making
• There is an exciting opportunity for a Data Scientist with excellent computational and analytical skills to assist in developing and applying data science techniques and solutions to tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance in Africa
• The consortium will establish a Randomised Controlled Trial, followed by an Implementation Research Project, as well as concurrently run an Economic Evaluation of the Intervention
• The project will be undertaken by a diverse consortium, including Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), University of Dakar (UCAD), African Institute of Mathematical Science (AIMS), University of Stellenbosch (SUN), Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (SwissTPH), University of Bern (UBern), University of Rotterdam, EPFL, and Yale University
• The successful candidate will join a talented and hardworking team addressing some of the country and regions most pressing health and development challenges
• Wits Agincourt offers an intellectually rich working environment with excellent opportunities for academic and professional growth
• As part of the Data Management team, this position involves a primary base in the Bushbuckridge District of Mpumalanga Province where most scientific and collaborating staff are based full-time, several of whom live in the attractive lowveld environment of the Wits Rural Campus/Hoedspruit
• The appointed individual will form part of the Wits-Agincourt Data Management team and will be the primary Data anchor in the IMCI-PLUS project, reporting to the Project coordination team and Wits-Principal Investigators

Main purpose of the job:

• Development of a Data Management Plan for the overall project
• Management and oversight of the projects data infrastructure
• Supervision of data management across the consortium (including providing oversight to all sites data teams)
• Development & piloting of data collection tools

Location:

• Wits Agincourt Offices, Tintswalo Hospital, Acornhoek, Bushbuckridge (Mpumalanga Province)

Key performance areas:

• Strengthen a dedicated, high-performing team
• Contribute to the development and management of an extensive archive of scientific data related to the project in conjunction with collaborators at Swiss TPH. This includes:

• Developing scripts and applications for integrity checking, data cleaning, and extraction
• Establishing routine quality checks on databases to ensure excellent data quality
• Integrating diverse data sets including audio, image, and video files drawn from multiple platforms/cloud services
• Participating in the maintenance, tuning, and implementation of network systems to enhance the measurement of key indicators and efficiency of the overall system
• Development and testing of research data collection tools/databases
• Develop and apply analytic and data visualization techniques and tools to support investigations into the evidence-informed management of paediatric pneumonia
• Contribute to peer-reviewed publications and technical reports, including as lead author

Required minimum education and training:

• The ideal candidate should possess at least a Masters Degree or higher in a relevant subject(s) such as Information Technology, Computer Science, Statistics, Demography, Epidemiology, Bioinformatics, Data Management, or other highly quantitative and computational fields

Required minimum work experience:

• Minimum of 2 years of Data Management experience

Desirable additional education, work experience, and personal abilities:

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with high attention to detail
• Development, maintenance, and administration of relational databases hosted on Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL
• Proficiency with the development of data collection and management tools e.g. RedCAP or ODK (REDCap is preferred)
• Management of large, complex datasets
• Proficiency with a commonly recognized statistical package e.g. Stata, R, or SAS
• Ability to work independently and collegially in a high-performing collaborative environment and support scientific investigations across disciplines
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and sound managerial experience
• Experience with academic writing and publication will be an advantage
• Expertise in applying machine learning techniques in addressing population and health issues
• Ability to prioritize and work under pressure on a variety of tasks concurrently

Demands of the job:

• Travel will be required within and outside of the country
• Ability to work in a high-pressured environment with overlapping priorities
• Must be able to handle stress with tact and empathy
• Will be required to be available outside of traditional working hours to provide support for the project if needed

TO APPLY:

• Only if you do meet the minimum job requirements and experience as mentioned above, you may submit a detailed updated CV.
• Please Apply Online.
• Please take note that the applicants who do not adhere to the above criteria will not be considered for the respective position.
• The closing date for all applications: 08 April 2024.
• Note AJ Personnel is fully POPI compliant.
• Note WHC, in accordance with their Employment Equity goals and plan, will give preference to suitable applicants from designated groups as defined in the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 and subsequent amendments thereto.

Please note:

• AJ PERSONNEL is only responsible for the advertising of the advertisement on behalf of their client Wits Health Consortium.
• Wits Health Consortium will only respond to shortlisted candidates.
• Candidates who have not been contacted within two weeks of the closing date can consider their applications to be unsuccessful.
• AJ Personnel does not have any salary or other information regarding the position.

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