London School Of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND POPULATION HEALTH

Lecturer/Research Fellow in Medical Statistics and Epidemiology in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit – Ref: KFMSE-4

We have a vacancy for a Lecturer/Research Fellow to work in the unit’s Tropical Epidemiology Group (TEG), a leading international group of statistical epidemiologists working on the health problems of developing countries. The post holder will work on a community randomised trial, conducted in Zambia and South Africa, of two interventions to reduce the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in settings of high HIV prevalence. The study is part of the Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS and TB Epidemic and receives funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The person appointed will contribute to study design, statistical analysis of results, data management and the preparation of research findings for publication. Based in London, regular visits to Lusaka in Zambia and Stellenbosch in South Africa will be essential. The study will be completed during the period of the appointment giving the post holder an exciting opportunity to be involved in the analysis and publication of the findings of one of the most important ongoing studies in this field. The successful candidate will also contribute to the School’s postgraduate teaching programme, and will be encouraged to pursue methodological research arising from the Unit’s activities.

Applicants should have a postgraduate qualification in statistics and relevant experience of working as a medical statistician, preferably in an epidemiological context. The ability to work both independently and as a member of a multidisciplinary scientific team is essential. Experience of working in developing countries would be an advantage.

The appointment will be initially to 31st January 2012 and will be made on the School’s Lecturer or Research Fellow scales - £35,194 to £42,213 per annum, inclusive depending on qualifications and experience.

Applications should be made on-line via our website at http://jobs.lshtm.ac.uk.The reference for this post is KFMSE-4. Applications should also include a CV and the names and email contacts of 2 referees who can be contacted immediately if shortlisted. Closing date for the receipt of applications is Tuesday 1 December 2009.

Interested applicants are invited to contact Dr Katherine Fielding ([email protected]) or Professor Peter Godfrey-Fausset (Peter.Godfrey- [email protected]) for further information. The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is committed to being an equal opportunities employer.

LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE

DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND POPULATION HEALTH

Lecturer/Research Fellow in Medical Statistics and Epidemiology in the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit

INFORMATION SHEET

THE SCHOOL The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is Britain's national school of public health and a leading postgraduate institution worldwide for research and postgraduate education in global health.

Part of the University of London, the London School is the largest institution of its kind in Europe with a remarkable depth and breadth of expertise encompassing many disciplines. The School was ranked one of the top 3 research institutions in the country in the Times Higher Education's 'table of excellence', which is based on the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), ahead of the London School of Economics, Oxford, Imperial and University College, London. The institution also achieved the largest increase in ranking compared with 2001 of any of the top 10 institutions in the RAE rankings.

The School's environment is a rich multicultural one: every year over 800 students come to the School from around 120 countries to study doctoral or masters degrees. The School has about 1200 staff drawn from around 45 nationalities.

There are research collaborations with over 100 countries throughout the world, utilizing our critical mass of multidisciplinary expertise which includes clinicians, epidemiologists, statisticians, social scientists, molecular biologists and immunologists. At any one time around 80 School staff are based overseas, particularly in Africa and Asia. We have a strong commitment to partnership with institutions in low and middle income countries to support the development of teaching and research capacity.

The School has expanded greatly in recent years. Its research funding now exceeds £48 m per annum, much of it from highly competitive national and international sources. The distance learning programme which was launched in 1998 now caters for over 2000 students studying on four masters programmes. The commitment of staff to methodological rigour, innovative thinking and policy relevance will ensure that the School continues to occupy a leadership position in national and global health, adapting quickly to new challenges and opportunities. Mission The School's mission is to contribute to the improvement of health worldwide through the pursuit of excellence in research, postgraduate teaching and advanced training in national and international public health and tropical medicine, and through informing policy and practice in these areas.

More information on the School is available on its web site at www.lshtm.ac.uk

THE DEPARTMENT The Department 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 294 staff members organised into five research units.

 Centre for Population Studies

 Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit

 Medical Statistics Unit

 Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology Unit

 Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research Unit

The Department has a teaching programme consisting of nine MSc courses: Epidemiology, Demography and Health, Medical Statistics, Public Health in Developing Countries (run jointly with the Departments of Infectious & Tropical Diseases and Public Health & Policy), Public Health Nutrition, Reproductive & Sexual Health Research, Veterinary Epidemiology (run jointly with the Royal Veterinary College), and the Distance Learning courses in Epidemiology and Clinical Trials. The Department also has approximately 149 research students studying for an MPhil, PhD or DrPH degree. The Department Head is Professor Laura Rodrigues.

THE UNIT The Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit (Head: Judith Glynn, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology) conducts research on the epidemiology and control of infectious diseases of public health importance. The research ranges from ecological studies investigating explanations for population differences in disease transmission, through cohort and case-control studies of disease aetiology, to randomised controlled trials of public health interventions. The Unit conducts research in developing, middle-income and industrialised countries, and there are strong collaborative research links in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Unit members have experience in research on a wide range of infections, including tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases, HIV, and other sexually transmitted diseases, malaria and other tropical parasites, hepatitis, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, respiratory diseases and gastro-intestinal infections. The Unit faculty includes both medical and statistical epidemiologists, and there is considerable interest in methodological work, including research on statistical methodology, transmission models and genetic epidemiology.

The post will be in the MRC Tropical Epidemiology Group, within the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit, which consists of statisticians and epidemiologists with considerable experience in the design and analysis of epidemiological field studies, and in the development and application of statistical and epidemiological methods. The Group, with approximately 18 members based in London, carries out research on the epidemiology and control of major public health problems of developing countries, with a focus on HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, TB and malaria, and with a special emphasis on intervention studies. Some of the Group’s current or recent projects include:

 Community randomised trials of the impact of health education and/or STD control on HIV/STD incidence in Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

 Cluster randomized trial of home-based management for HIV in Uganda

 A multicentre study investigating reasons for variations in the magnitude of the HIV epidemic in four cities in Africa.

 Natural history studies of HIV infection in The Gambia.

 Cohort and case-control studies of mycobacterial disease in South African goldminers.

 Evaluation of the impact of Hib vaccination in The Gambia

 Phase 2 and 3 trials of candidate malaria vaccines in The Gambia, Tanzania and Kenya

 Pragmatic trials of combination drug regimens for uncomplicated malaria in The Gambia

 Evaluation of intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in Ghana, The Gambia and Senegal

 Development of methods for the design and analysis of trials where the intervention is randomised by community rather than by individual.

The successful applicant will work on a large community randomised trial, the Zambia South Africa TB and AIDS Reduction Study (ZAMSTAR), which is one of three large studies conducted under the Consortium to Respond Effectively to the TB and AIDS Epidemics (CREATE) funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. CREATE is a collaboration between the LSHTM, Johns Hopkins University (US), Zambart (Zambia), Desmond Tutu TB Centre at the Stellenbosch University (South Africa), the Health Secretariat for the city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and WHO (Geneva).

ZAMSTAR is a community randomised trial of two interventions to reduce the prevalence of TB at community level, taking place at 16 sites in Zambia and 8 in South Africa, both areas of high HIV prevalence. The work will involve providing statistical and epidemiological input to the study, including work on data management, statistical analysis, study design and the preparation of results for publication. The study was initiated in 2006 and will be completed January 2011 which will be followed by a period of data analysis and write-up of results. As the study will be completed during the period of the appointment this will give the post holder an exciting opportunity to be involved in the analysis and publication of the findings of one of the most important ongoing studies in this field. The post holder will also be a member of the CREATE Biostatistics Core and will work alongside other statisticians working on the CREATE trials from LSHTM and Johns Hopkins University (US). During the first six months of the post an extended two-three month visit to Zambia and South Africa to work with the ZAMSTAR data management team and statistician will be required.

The applicant will be encouraged to contribute to the Tropical Epidemiology Group’s work on the development and application of new statistical and epidemiological methods, and will be expected to contribute to the School’s postgraduate teaching programme.

The appointee will be provided with a personal computer and laptop for their dedicated use. The School network provides access to a wide range of computing facilities, including all the major statistical software packages. The STATA package is currently used extensively in the MSc teaching programme.

SALARY AND CONDITIONS OF APPOINTMENT The appointment is initially funded to 31st January 2012. The appointment will be made on LSHTM’s research fellow/lecturer scale 6/7 (£35,194 to £42,213) depending on qualifications and experience.

The post will be subject to the LSHTM terms and conditions of service. Membership of the USS pension scheme is available. The School's retirement date is 30 September following the 65th birthday. It is the School's policy not to appoint candidates aged 65 or over.

APPLICATIONS

Applications should be made on line via our website at jobs.lshtm.ac.uk. The reference for this post is KFMSE-4. Online applications will be accepted by the automated system until midnight of the closing date, which is Tuesday 1 December 2009. Any queries regarding the application process should be addressed to [email protected] or telephone 0207 927 2173.

The supporting statement section should set out how your qualifications, experience and training meet each of the selection criteria. Please provide one or more paragraphs addressing each criterion. The supporting statement is an essential part of the selection process and thus a failure to provide this information will mean that the application will not be considered. An answer to any of the criteria such as "Please see attached CV" will not be considered acceptable. Your CV should also be attached to the online application.

It is hoped to hold the interviews the week commencing 14th December 2009.

Please note that if you are shortlisted and are unable to attend on the interview date it may not be possible to offer you an alternative date. LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE

JOB DESCRIPTION

POST: Lecturer/Research Fellow in Medical Statistics and Epidemiology

GRADE: 6/7

RESPONSIBLE TO: Dr Katherine Fielding MRC Tropical Epidemiology Group, Infectious Disease Epidemiology Unit

The post holder will be expected to play an active role in the Unit’s research and teaching activities. The main duties of the post will include:

1. To contribute to the management and editing of data from the ZAMSTAR study and their preparation for statistical analysis.

2. To undertake statistical analyses of data from the ZAMSTAR study and to prepare the results for publication, and contribute to manuscript preparation.

3. To provide general statistical and epidemiological advice to the ZAMSTAR study team

4. To undertake regular visits to Zambia and South Africa, sites of the ZAMSTAR study, to work with data management and statistical staff.

5. To contribute to the School’s postgraduate teaching programme.

6. To contribute appropriately to the life of the Unit and to the academic life of the Department and the School.

7. To undertake other duties as may be required by the Head of the Group.

There will also be opportunities to engage in methodological research arising from the Unit’s activities.

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is committed to being an equal opportunities employer LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE

PERSON SPECIFICATION

The ideal candidate would possess the following characteristics, although it is recognised that potential applicants might fulfil each of these criteria to a greater or lesser extent:

Essential characteristics

1. Postgraduate qualification in statistics.

2. Relevant practical experience as a medical statistician, including experience of data analysis and familiarity with statistical software

3. Practical experience of managing large amounts of data and familiarity with database management software.

4. Good publication record commensurate with experience

5. Ability to work independently and as a member of a multidisciplinary scientific team.

6. Willingness to travel to field sites in Zambia and South Africa to collaborate on the ZAMSTAR study.

7. Ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment.

8. Good written and oral communication skills in English.

Desirable characteristics

1. Experience of medical research

2. Knowledge/experience of epidemiology

3. An interest in health research in developing countries.

4. An interest in the development of new statistical or epidemiological methods.

5. Teaching experience at university level 6. Experience in writing grant applications.

7. A PhD in the field of statistics/epidemiology.