Director- Enteric Disease & Vaccine Research Unit Ref No. DR/ED/07/09/21 At Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia

The Enteric Disease and Vaccine Research Unit (EDVRU) is a growing research team that seeks to understand enteric pathogen biology, epidemiology and immunology of pathogens of public health importance to Zambia. It seeks to undertake basic and translational research generally aimed at development of vaccines and other interventions.

Reports to Chief Scientific Officer. The incumbent will lead strategy development and supervise teams to drive growth and productivity. S/he will oversee current clinical and basic science research studies on rotavirus, shigella, cholera, enterotoxigenic E-coli, corona virus. The EDVRU is engaged in a wide range of international networks and consortia developing new vaccines, diagnostics and capacity development.

Main duties

• Represents CIDRZ locally and internationally and provides needed scientific leadership, credibility and inspire further growth.
• Provides needed mentorship to young Research Fellows within the unit and across the institution to support their development towards independent research careers.
• Assumes Principal Investigator function on a range of ongoing and new studies
• Inter-face between EDVRU and other directorates and departments in CIDRZ
• Leads EDVRU strategy development and execution of relevant specific tasks from the institutional strategy
• Ensures sustenance of a healthy research portfolio balancing immediate and future grants within the pipeline
• Negotiates and manages study budgets
• Commits to ensuring all research undertaken meets the required international GCP/GCLP standards
• Drives efficient implementation of clinical trials to meet sponsor expectations on targets and quality of work
• Fosters the controlled human infection model development in Zambia and expand its utilization for vaccine evaluation
• Collaborates closely with the CIDRZ Central Laboratory to ensure quality results are provided for research projects
• Oversee scientific research and utilization of platforms within the EDVRU labs including the ELISPOT, LUMINEX, LAMP, NOVODIAG, MiniON sequencer etc and ensure the unit does not remain behind global developments

Qualifications

• Registered Medical Doctor with postgraduate qualification or equivalent (e.g. MSc, MS in a health science) or PhD
• At least 10 years experience in clinical or biomedical research at a senior level
• Strong scientific record of achievement with international stature
• Experience in budget development and financial management and working effectively with diverse teams
• Proven team leadership skills
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Experience with scientific funding agencies in Zambia, the US and elsewhere
• Familiarity with scientific/regulatory procedures in Zambia
• Familiarity with public health system in Zambia