Head of Section at National Health Laboratory Services

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Be responsible for developing of the overall surveillance strategy of the Division’s surveillance platform, ensuring that the attributes of the platform are able to deliver on its objectives set in agreement with the various NICD centre’s for the diseases under surveillance Ensure that co-ordinated quality assurance processes are in place throughout the Epidemiology Section of the DivisionTo maintain an Epidemiology team to provide high quality teaching and training which is responsive to national and international requirements on NICD and other training programmes. As part of the management team within the NICD, the Senior Epidemiologist will be required to provide additional support for the other activities of the Division as well as other NICD needs.
• Ensure that the NICD supports the Provincial Departments of Health in their infectious Disease Epidemiology needs Contribute to the development of the overall surveillance strategy for the Division Be actively involved in the writing and submission of scientific papers, reports, grant writing Participate in relevant internal, Provincial, National and International meetings to facilitate the objectives of the Division Advocate the Division’s epidemiological services to different stakeholders Strengthen the relationship between NHLS, NICD and DoH by being the liaison for all three institutions Collaborate with the NICD Units and Surveillance Data Warehouse to provide National and Provincial DoH with support in large/severe outbreak investigations and response in the field.
• This would include close liaison with all role players including NHLS, Directorate of the Provincial DoH and the Communicable Diseases Units and outbreak response teams in the provinceStrengthen systems for accessing NHLS and private laboratory data for epidemiological applications with specific reference to surveillance and outbreak responsePlay a lead role in the development of laboratory-based early warning systems for outbreaks and analysis of communicable disease data generated from Surveillance Data Warehouse Ensure the Epidemiology Section of the Division is compliant with NICD/NHLS HR policies and directives. 

Minimum Requirements and Key Competencies

• MMED / Master’s degree in Epidemiology(or public health) PHD in Epidemiology/Public Health or equivalent desirable Code 8 valid Driver’s License
• Minimum 6 years post qualification experience in infectious disease epidemiology surveillance within a public setting At least 4 years’experience as a leader in a public Health setting Expert Knowledge of epidemiology and statistical methods