London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine s2

LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE

FACULTY OF EPIDEMIOLOGY & POPULATION HEALTH

DEPARTMENT OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY

Clinical Microbiologist / Lecturer

FURTHER PARTICULARS THE SCHOOL

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world-leading centre for research and postgraduate education in public and global health. Our mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working in partnership to achieve excellence in public and global health research, education and translation of knowledge into policy and practice.

Founded in 1899 by Sir Patrick Manson, the School has expanded in recent years at its two main sites on Keppel Street and Tavistock Place. The School’s multidisciplinary expertise includes clinicians, epidemiologists, statisticians, social scientists, molecular biologists and immunologists, and we work with partners worldwide to support the development of teaching and research capacity. Research income has grown to over £85 million per year from national and international funding sources including the UK government, the European Commission, the Wellcome Trust and philanthropic sources.

Education programmes have grown to more than 1,000 London-based Master’s and Research students, 2,900 studying Master’s by distance learning and 1,000 on short courses and continuous professional development. We have also launched a series of free online courses, and more than 15,000 people registered on the first of these, Ebola in context. Our staff, students and alumni work in more than 150 countries in government, academia, international agencies and health services.

The School is highly ranked in various university league tables. It was named the world’s leading research-focused graduate school in the Times Higher Education World Rankings in 2013. In 2014, it was ranked in the top 10 universities in the world for citation rate by the new EU-supported U-Multirank database, fourth in the world for impact in medical sciences by the Leiden Ranking and third in the world for social science and public health in the US News Best Global Universities Ranking. According to the results of the UK government’s Research Excellence Framework, published in December 2014, the School was ranked second overall (after the Institute for Cancer Research) on the key measure of impact.

THE FACULTY

The Faculty of Epidemiology & Population Health (EPH) houses a large group of epidemiologists, demographers, statisticians and nutritionists working on issues of major public health importance in the UK and globally. EPH has approximately 400 staff members organised into four research departments.  Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology  Department of Medical Statistics  Department of Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology  Department of Population Health

The Faculty has a teaching programme consisting of ten MSc courses: Epidemiology, Demography and Health, Medical Statistics, Public Health in Developing Countries (run jointly with the Faculties of Infectious & Tropical Diseases and Public Health & Policy), Nutrition for Global Health, Reproductive & Sexual Health Research, Veterinary Epidemiology (run jointly with the Royal Veterinary College), Global Mental Health (run jointly with Kings College London - Institute of Psychiatry) and the Distance Learning courses in Epidemiology and Clinical Trials. The Faculty also has approximately 120 research students studying for an MPhil, PhD or DrPH degree.

The Dean of Faculty is Professor John Edmunds.

THE DEPARTMENT

The Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology (Head: Dr Veronique Filippi) has over 80 academic staff who conduct research on the epidemiology and control of infectious diseases of public health importance. Work is carried out both in developing countries and in industrialized countries including the United Kingdom. Research ranges from ecological studies of variations in disease frequency in different populations, through observational case-control and cohort studies to define risk factors for disease, to randomised controlled trials to test the impact of specific preventive and curative interventions.

The Department has major field research programmes in Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Ghana, Brazil and Europe and numerous collaborative projects in other countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Major interests are in the epidemiology and control of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and other mycobacteria, malaria and other tropical parasites, hepatitis, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, respiratory diseases and gastro-intestinal infections. The Department is home to the MRC-funded Tropical Epidemiology Group, and a large research programme on maternal and perinatal health. The Department includes both medical and statistical epidemiologists, and there is considerable interest in methodological work, including research on statistical methods, transmission models, genetic epidemiology and immune-epidemiology. There are strong collaborative links with other Departments across all three Faculties, including with the Clinical Research and Immunology Departments. The Department has an active research degree-training programme, with over 40 PhD students.

KEMRI-WELLCOME TRUST RESEARCH PROGRAMME

The KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Collaborative Research Programme (KWTRP) is recognised internationally within the fields of international public health, clinical tropical medicine, epidemiology and immunology. The Wellcome Trust of Great Britain is its core funder and it employs over 70 scientists and 40 PhD students. The Programme is based in Kilifi ≈60 km north of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean coast and is located adjacent to Kilifi County Hospital where the Programme has undertaken clinical research in children for 25 years. The Kilifi Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS), the largest of its kind in Africa monitors births, deaths and clinical events in a population of over 280,000 around the hospital and is a key feature in the Programme’s scientific capacity. The microbiology laboratory is a modern state-of-the-art facility with a high throughput of clinical and research specimens in bacteriology and virology. In addition, it has a Biosafety Category 3 laboratory and ample facilities for PCR diagnostics and sequencing. The laboratory is GCLP certified and participates in an international QC programme (NEQAS). It employs approximately 8 laboratory technologists and research assistants. It is the regional coordinating laboratory for East African surveillance for H. influenzae type b and S. pneumonia. The integration of the KHDSS with the Kilifi County Hospital clinical surveillance provides the infrastructure that underpins a range of epidemiological research activities. The Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Impact Study (PCVIS) was funded by the GAVI Alliance in 2008 and is designed to monitor different disease and carriage endpoints before and after introduction of 10-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in Kenya in January 2011. It is now funded through to December 2017.

JOB DESCRIPTION Post: Clinical Microbiologist / Lecturer Responsible to: Professor Anthony Scott Grade: Clinical Lecturer The post-holder will work full-time at the Kenya Medical Research Institute-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi. He/she will be responsible to the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Kenya Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Impact Study (PCVIS), Prof Anthony Scott. The core of the project is a before-after study of invasive pneumococcal disease embedded within the demographic surveillance system, with specific analyses for indirect vaccine protection and serotype replacement disease. He/She will work closely with other project specific staff (Clinical Epidemiologist, Project/Departmental Manager, Physician/Research Medical Officers, Communications and Training Manager) to ensure smooth running of key epidemiological components of the project and with other scientists at the centre with an interest in bacteriology.

The Clinical Microbiologist will assist the PI and Clinical Epidemiologist with the running of the core study. This entails but is not limited to monitoring for serotype replacement pneumococcal disease and carriage, assessing the impact of a pneumococcal conjugate vaccination programme on antimicrobial susceptibility for pneumococci and other bacteria found in invasive bacterial diseases and determining the mechanisms of resistance. In addition, the post holder will be expected to develop an individual research base in a related area which may not limited to vaccines against bacterial infections, genomic analysis of bacterial pathogenesis, or similar - depending on the existing skills and interests of the successful applicant.

Key Responsibilities

1. Assist the PI by taking the lead in all aspects of microbiology for the overarching project

2. Manage the microbiology laboratory including laboratory staff supervision, staff training, oversight of quality control, compliance with GCLP, equipment maintenance and stock control.

3. Contribute to the clinical service at Kilifi County Hospital at the level and specialisation appropriate to your training and qualifications.

4. Work closely with the project epidemiologist in the evaluation of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on invasive pneumococcal disease and nasopharyngeal carriage of S. pneumoniae in the community. 5. Provide support (training, establishing quality systems, etc) for bacteriology laboratories at affiliated research sites/projects in Mbale (Uganda) and Harar (Ethiopia)

6. Provide expert microbiological advice to surveillance activities within the centre

7. Present or represent the PCVIS study at scientific meetings at the request of the PI

8. Lead new research projects within the scope of the PCVIS project

9. Develop a personal programme of research* within the scope of the KHDSS and/or PCVIS project

10. Assist the PI in the supervision of microbiology students within KEMRI/Wellcome Trust Research Programme

11. Contribute to the academic life of the Programme through attendance and presentation at seminars, journal clubs etc.

12. Comparable duties as may be required by the PI of the PCVIS

13. Contribute as appropriate to the Faculty’s teaching programme

*It is anticipated that throughout the course of the project, the post-holder will use the opportunities of the large scale epidemiological project and the longitudinal demographic and clinical surveillance study to develop a personal scientific interest which will come to fruition through independent fellowship or project funding.

PERSON SPECIFICATION Essential  Medically qualified with postgraduate training in clinical microbiology (and eligible for medical registration in Kenya)  Publication or other evidence of strong academic capability  Management experience or the capacity to manage a medium sized lab  A broad knowledge of diagnostic laboratory microbiology including molecular diagnostics and allied techniques  The ability to work in different settings and to liaise with different groups  The ability to work both independently and as a member of a team  Good presentation skills, both oral and written  The ability to master quickly a significant body of specific scientific knowledge  Excellent organisation and administrative skills  Good computer skills and the ability to learn new programmes  Imaginative problem solver

Desirable  PhD in a related field  Previous experience of pneumococcal microbiology research  Research experience in vaccinology  Previous experience with sequencing (next generation and other platforms)  Previous experience with bioinformatics SALARY AND CONDITIONS OF APPOINTMENT The post is available immediately and is funded until 31st December 2017. Further funding may be available after this date. The appointment will be made on the School’s Clinical Lecturer scale £33,597 to £56,495 depending on qualifications and experience. The post holder will be employed as an academic member of staff of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and will be based full-time at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi Kenya. Additional overseas allowances and benefits will be provided as appropriate. The post will be subject to the LSHTM terms and conditions of service. Membership of the Universities Superannuation Scheme is available. ASYLUM & IMMIGRATION STATEMENT

The School will comply with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, which requires all employees to provide documentary evidence of their legal right to work in this country prior to commencing employment. Candidates will be required to bring their passport (and visa if applicable) to interview so that it can be copied and verified.

This role does not meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to enable sponsorship of migrant workers. Therefore we cannot progress applications from candidates who require sponsorship to work in the UK

Further information about Certificate of Sponsorship and eligibility to work in the UK, can be found at: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points