Founded in 2002 by President William J. Clinton and Ira C. Magaziner, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org.

Laboratory Services Team

The Research Associate will be a member of CHAI’s Laboratory Services Team (LST). The Research Associate will report to Senior Scientist on LST, and will work closely with members from both CHAI country teams and global teams.

Provision of high quality diagnostic services is one of the leading priorities of CHAI’s Laboratory service team (LST). LST plays the lead role in coordinating work on access to diagnostics, working closely with test manufacturers, governments, and multilateral organizations to lower prices, scale up use of proven diagnostic tools and products that expand service delivery, and accelerate the entry and uptake of new innovative products for HIV, TB, HCV and COVID-19 (among other communicable and non-communicable diseases). LST’s work often catalyzes the market in an environment where funding streams are limited; LST works with high-volume, early-adopter countries to build a healthy, competitive global market for novel point-of-care (POC) and central lab-based products for diagnostics.

Program Support Areas

Optimizing laboratory systems to ensure the right test is available to accurately and promptly diagnose and monitor diseases for patient management is critical. Selecting appropriate lab-based and POC products and implementing efficient sample transport and result delivery systems so that testing can be simplified to enable tasks to shift to lower cadres of healthcare workers, particularly in rural areas, are all aspects that can strengthen overall diagnostic systems. Several POC products for diagnosis, disease staging, and treatment monitoring have recently become available or are in development, with the potential to dramatically increase access to treatment, improve patient retention, and make healthcare systems more efficient. However, despite the potential advantages of new technologies, there are barriers that prevent adoption and scale-up in resource-limited settings (RLS), including regulatory hurdles and limited guidance on how to decentralize testing to lower-health tiers in more remote areas and integrate lab testing into broader primary health care.

As new technologies become available, the LST Research Associate will focus on supporting governments to technically evaluate these technologies and develop and conduct operational research studies under the direction and supervision of the Senior Scientist.  The Research Associate will work with CHAI country teams to support countries in developing research studies to understand optimal POC or lab-based technology implementation and patient impact. In doing so, the Research Associate will develop ethics protocols, data collection tools, and provide intensive in-country support throughout the duration of studies to ensure successful study execution. Upon completion, the Research Associate will assist with data analysis and report/manuscript generation. Through this work the Research Associate will develop strong relationships with various teams within CHAI, as well as Ministries of Health, and National Reference Laboratories.

Candidate Profile

LST is seeking a Research Associate to work with CHAI country and global teams, country government partners, and implementing partners to contribute to achieving transformational impact in CHAI’s programs. S/he will be responsible for tasks including M&E systems design, data collection tool and protocol development, analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, data visualization through dashboards, and preparation of dissemination materials and manuscripts. The ideal candidate would have strong quantitative and analytical skills, be familiar with global health and key health systems strengthening concepts and approaches, and would be up-to-speed in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) theories and techniques. We are seeking a motivated individual with superior problem-solving and analytical skills, who is resourceful, strong at analyses and a clear communicator. The candidate should be particularly strong in applied analytics and evidence-base decision-making approaches, developing impact-oriented recommendations, able to work collaboratively in a fast-paced, multi-cultural environment, and function independently. CHAI places great value on relevant personal qualities: resourcefulness, responsibility, tenacity, independence, energy, and work ethic.

• Serve as a key technical advisor to CHAI country teams on the evaluation and operational research studies of new diagnostic products;
• Support design of monitoring and evaluation systems and/or assessment tools, and transpose program learnings into actionable scale-up plans
• Conduct literature/desk reviews and synthesis of key data from early adopter research
• Assist country teams in the development of assessment tools, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data
• Design electronic data collection systems and support CHAI country teams in collecting and managing data
• Carry out research, analyses, and quantitative models and translate their results into actionable and policy-relevant recommendations
• Build the capacity of country teams to analyze and use data generated from the program activities, including data management best practices through training and mentoring
• Develop and/or maintain data dashboards for program monitoring
• Support evaluation, documentation and dissemination of results and lessons learned from CHAI's work
• Other responsibilities as needed

• Master’s degree in public health, microbiology, virology,  immunology, or a related field
• At least 3 years of relevant work experience in a field requiring analytical problem-solving
• Excellent skills in data management and statistical analysis, including use of software such as Stata or SAS
• Experience with program monitoring systems, dashboard development, and data visualization
• Excellent MS Office skills, including advanced Excel skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including demonstrated capacity to synthesize evidence into effective presentations and actionable recommendations for broad range of audience, including Ministries of Health, global donors and policy makers
• Exceptional ability to work independently, to develop and execute work-plans, and to achieve specified goals with limited guidance and oversight in a fast-paced environment
• Exceptional diplomatic and interpersonal skills, and an ability to manage challenging multi-cultural, multi-stakeholder situations to achieve intended results
• Demonstrated capacity to thrive in a work environment where juggling parallel deliverables is the norm
• Ability to travel extensively to focus countries and other locations as relevant to work (for in-country support, global meetings, etc.)

Advantages

• Knowledge of HIV and/or TB programs in developing countries
• Experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Experience extracting data from District Health Information Software 2 (DHIS2) and/or building data capture systems on the DHIS2 platform
• Experience designing electronic data collection systems using SurveyCTO
• Experience in a global/public health development organization or management consulting firm

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