London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine s1

LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE & TROPICAL MEDICINE (University of London)

DEPARTMENT OF INFECTIOUS AND TROPICAL DISEASES

CLINICAL RESEARCH UNIT, INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR EYE HEALTH

Part Time Administrative Assistant

The International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) is part of the Clinical Research Unit, in the Department of Infectious Tropical Diseases. ICEH’s work is to promote VISION2020, a global initiative of the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020 through research and education, with a focus on low income populations.

We are seeking to appoint a part-time (75%) Administrative Assistant to provide administrative support to Professor Clare Gilbert, and Ms Jyoti Shah, ICEH Research Grants Coordinator.

The successful applicant will have relevant administrative and clerical experience, excellent interpersonal skills, be a good team player and have the ability to work with individuals from different backgrounds and cultures.

The post is funded by Sightsavers International to 31 December 2010. Starting salary is from £19,192 to £21,591 inclusive, pro-rata.

Applications should be made on-line via our website at http://jobs.lshtm.ac.uk The reference for this post is AA3. Applications should also include a CV and the names and email contacts of 2 referees who can be contacted immediately if shortlisted. Any queries regarding the application process may be addressed to [email protected]. Closing date for the receipt of applications is Friday 11 June 2010.

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

DEPARTMENT OF INFECTIOUS AND TROPICAL DISEASES

CLINICAL RESEARCH UNIT, INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR EYE HEALTH

JOB DESCRIPTION

Post: Part-time Administrative Assistant to Ms Jyoti Shah (0.75)

Grade: PSP 2

Responsible to: Research Grants Co-ordinator

Unit: Clinical Research Unit

Start date: As soon as possible

The post holder will be responsible for providing administrative support to Professor Clare Gilbert and the Research Grants Co-ordinator, Jyoti Shah.

Detailed responsibilities will include:

Administration 1. Provide administrative support to Professor Gilbert and Jyoti Shah.  Audio-type letters and documents and mail these as appropriate.  Organise travel for Professor Gilbert and ICEH Research Staff, including accommodation, visas and travel authority/insurance.  Draft agendas and take minutes of ad hoc meetings when required.

2. Assist in preparing research grant applications  Complete Letters of Intent for new Research Grants in preparation for the pFACT process.  Conduct literature searches and find academic articles online and in local libraries.  Identify costs

3. General administrative activities for ICEH  Update ICEH publications database.  Circulate Eye Journal contents pages to ICEH Research staff.  Act as a point of contact for visitors and staff visiting ICEH.  Organise incoming and outgoing mail when required, forwarding mail to overseas staff.  Arrange meetings and conference calls, including room booking and catering. Arrange Conference Registration and Membership where applicable, and set up a database.  Fax, photocopy and digitally scan documents.  Maintain good working relationships with ICEH, School staff, and external bodies such as donors, NGO’s and international collaborating organizations.  Carry out general office duties as appropriate as requested by Jyoti Shah.

Unit and Departmental  Respond to requests from the Group, Unit and Departmental Administrators on all matters relating to unit/departmental administration.  Adhere to Departmental and School policy and procedures at all times. PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential requirements  Appropriate relevant administrative and clerical experience  Evidence of ability to produce a written record of meetings and follow up on action points  Experience of setting up and managing databases  Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Office; in particular Word, Access, Excel, email and the internet.  Evidence of ability to assess priorities and manage workload and deadlines  Excellent written and oral communication skills in English  Excellent interpersonal skills, including an ability to work with individuals from different backgrounds and cultures, and as part of a team

Desirable requirements  Experience of working in an international health environment, preferably in relation to eye disease  Educated to degree level or equivalent  Experience of working in an academic environment.  Flexible in relation to workload

Accountability The post-holder will be responsible to Ms Jyoti Shah, Research Grants Co-ordinator, through her to Professor Clare Gilbert, Head of Research at ICEH, through them to the Head of the International Centre for Eye Health (Professor Allen Foster) and through him to the Head of the Clinical Research Unit and the Head of the Infectious and Tropical Disease Department and, ultimately, the Director of the School.

Salary and conditions of appointment This is a part-time post (0.75) from 1 July until 31 December 2010. The salary will be on the Professional Support scale with a starting salary of £21,080 inclusive of London Allowance, depending upon the successful applicant’s experience.

Applications Applications should be made on-line via our website at jobs.lshtm.ac.uk. The closing date is Friday 11 June 2010 and the reference for this post is AA3. Online applications will be accepted by the automated system until midnight of the closing date. Any queries regarding the application process may be addressed to [email protected] or telephone 0207 927 2173. Please note that this post would not qualify for a Certificate of Sponsorship under the points-based immigration regulations.

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.

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.

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is committed to being an equal opportunities employer. The International Centre for Eye Health (VISION 2020) (Head: Professor Allen Foster)

The International Centre for Eye Health (ICEH) is part of the Clinical Research Unit, in the Department of Infectious Tropical Diseases.

Mission Statement of ICEH:

Research and Education to improve eye health and eliminate avoidable blindness, with a focus on low income populations. ICEHs work is to promote VISION2020, a global initiative of the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020.

Objectives:

 To provide evidence of the magnitude, causes and impact of visual loss and eye diseases for policy makers and health planners

 To undertake original research and systematic reviews to identify cost effective interventions for the prevention and treatment of blinding eye diseases

 To promote international and national level leadership in community eye health through training at LSHTM

 To facilitate implementation of national and district VISION2020 programmes through the provision of local training in community eye health, planning and management

 To work with partners to increase the capacity of institutions to develop research programmes and to provide high quality training in eye care delivery

 To support local health providers with relevant eye care educational materials and information on good practice

 To contribute towards the global VISION 2020 initiative in collaboration with WHO, the IAPB, international NGOs and other institutions and organizations. 1. The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)

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. In 2009, the School became the first UK institution to win the Gates Award for Global Health.

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 1350 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

2. Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases

The Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases encompasses all of the laboratory-based research in the School as well as that on the clinical and epidemiological aspects of infectious and tropical diseases. It is headed by Simon Croft, who is Professor of Parasitology. The range of disciplines represented in the department is very broad and inter-disciplinary research is a feature of much of our activity. The spectrum of diseases studied is wide and there are major research groups with a focus on malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, vaccine development and evaluation, and vector biology and disease control. The Department is organised into four large research units comprising: Pathogen Molecular Biology, Immunology, Disease Control and Vector Biology, and Clinical Research. There is close interaction between scientists in different research teams. The Department has strong overseas links, which provide a basis for field studies and international collaborations in developed and developing countries. The teaching programme includes MSc courses, taught in-house and by distance learning, which are modular in structure, a variety of short-courses and an active doctoral programme (PhD and DrPH). Immunology Unit (Head: Professor Eleanor Riley)

Research in the Immunology Unit centres on analysis of the host response to infection at the molecular, cellular and population levels. The goals are to develop a greater understanding of basic mechanisms of immunological protection versus pathology, and to apply this knowledge to the development of immunological interventions and the identification of correlates of immune status. Our work involves application of state-of-the-art cellular and molecular approaches to the in vitro analysis of pathogen-host cell interactions, to in vivo studies in models and to the study of immunity at the population level in disease endemic areas. Main areas of research include the regulation of acute and chronic inflammation; macrophage-pathogen interactions; cellular pharmacology; the production of cytokines during innate and acquired immune responses; T-cell function and antigen recognition; the mechanisms of immunopathology; the development of vaccines; and delivery systems for vaccines and drugs.

Current research includes the role of acute phase proteins in resistance to infection, homeostasis and inflammatory disease, mechanisms of macrophage activation, control of cytokine synthesis and mammalian lectin interactions (J. Raynes); intracellular trafficking and secretory pathways of cells of the immune system (T. Ward); the role of innate responses in resistance to the bacterial pathogens, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Burkholderia pseudomallei, activity and regulation of natural killer cells and their effect on macrophage activation and recruitment, regulation of chemokine receptors during infection and granulomatous tissue responses in the lung against Cryptococcus neoformans and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (G. Bancroft); correlates of protection against tuberculosis and studies of BCG vaccination, human CD8+ T-cell responses to mycobacterial antigens and synthetic peptides, use of whole blood assays in immuno-epidemiology (H. Dockrell); cytokine and chemokine responses to leprosy, cellular composition and effects of steroids on skin and nerve lesions of reactional leprosy, identification of specific peptides for immunodiagnosis of leprosy (S. Young); innate and adaptive immunity to malaria including activation of natural killer cells, cytokine regulation in clinical immunity and immunopathology, regulation of antibody production and immunoglobulin class switching (E. Riley); transmission of Plasmodium falciparum malaria including antibody responses to gametocyte-infected erythrocyte surface antigens, effect of gamete antigen variability on transmission, gametocyte sequestration and development and gametocyticidal drug therapy (C. Sutherland); characterisation of protective immune mechanisms and defined antigens in attenuated vaccine models of schistosomiasis (Q. Bickle); impact of concomitant viral, bacterial, protozoal and helminth infections on induction of immune responses and immunopathology and T cell regulation and induction of mucosal immune responses during intestinal nematode infections (H. Helmby); the identification and evaluation of novel drugs and drug delivery systems for leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis and malaria, interaction between antiprotozoal drugs and the immune response (L. Vivas, V. Yardley)

Pathogen Molecular Biology Unit (Head: Professor Brendan Wren)

Research in the PMB Unit focuses on the molecular biology and genetics of pathogens and their hosts in the context of improving the understanding and control of infectious diseases. Aspects of pathogen biology of interest include: (i) determining the mechanisms of infection of globally important viral, bacterial and parasitic pathogens; (ii) deciphering the genetic diversity of selected disease agents in natural populations and to determine its epidemiological impact, (iii) studying immune evasion mechanisms of particular disease agents, (iv) exploiting parasitic, bacterial and viral pathogens as model biological systems and (v) developing practical applications including improved diagnostic tests and the identification and characterisation of vaccine candidates and drug targets.

PMBU currently has funding to investigate, amongst others, the malaria parasite (Plasmodium spp), Chagas disease (Trypanosoma cruzi), African sleeping sickness (Trypanosoma brucei), amoebic dysentery (Entamoeba), the Leishmania species, bacterial food borne pathogens (Campylobacter jejuni and Yersinia enterocolitica), gastric ulcers/cancer (Helicobacter pylori), pseudomembranous colitis (Clostridium difficile), plague (Yersinia pestis), paddy field melioidosis (Burkholderia pseudomallei), Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), Pneumonia (Streptococcus pneumoniae), Bluetongue viral disease of livestock, Herpesviridae, SARS, the hemorrhagic fever virus (RVFV) and the enteric rotavirus that cause significant diarrhoeal disease in infants developing countries.

The long-term aim of PMBU research is to gain a fully rounded understanding of the complex and dynamic ways by which pathogens modulate virulence and interact with the human host. Such a holistic approach will vastly increase the scope for the rational of design of long-term intervention strategies to reduce the burden of infectious disease. In recent years such a mission has been significantly enhanced by the availability of whole genome sequences. Members of the Unit are, or have been, involved in several pathogen genome projects including Herpes, Campylobacter jejuni, Yersinia pestis, Clostridium difficile, Entamoeba and Trypanosome species. In particular, post genome studies have facilitated research on more complex parasites such as Plasmodium, Entamoeba and Trypanosome species. The interpretation and exploitation of this basic information is the platform for numerous new avenues of research on pathogenesis, epidemiology and the evolution of virulence.

Clinical Research Unit (Head: Dr Alison Grant)

The Clinical Research Unit addresses infectious diseases of major public health importance in developing countries. Activities include trials of new therapies, vaccines and educational interventions; the development of new diagnostic tests; studies to elucidate the immunological and molecular correlates of pathogenesis and protective immunity, and to identify genetic polymorphisms conferring protection or susceptibility to infectious diseases; health services research which aims to identify the most efficient and cost-effective way to deliver health care; and health policy analysis. In addition to our many overseas collaborations, we have close links with the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, in new, purpose-built accommodation on the main UCL Hospital campus, five minutes walk from the School. The Wellcome Trust Bloomsbury Centre for Clinical Tropical Medicine is based in the Unit, and currently supports five Clinical Training Fellows and two Career Development Fellows, most of whom are based overseas.

Much of the Unit's research concerns HIV and related infections; in particular, the interaction between HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases, and between HIV infection and tuberculosis. We have longstanding and fruitful collaborations addressing these issues in Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda and South Africa. Brian Greenwood FRS is leading an initiative to strengthen malaria research in the School through new collaborative links in Africa. Research and teaching on blinding diseases in developing countries has been greatly strengthened by the recruitment of Allen Foster, who is the President of CBM International, an NGO with programmes for the prevention of blindness and disability in over 100 countries; our research on trachoma has played an important part in framing the strategies adopted by the WHO and the new International Trachoma Initiative for the elimination of blinding trachoma by the year 2020.

Disease Control and Vector Biology Unit (Head: Professor Daniel Chandramohan)

This multidisciplinary Unit includes epidemiologists, entomologists, anthropologists and social scientists, clinical scientists, public health engineers, and geographers. This range of expertise provides us with a battery of tools for focusing on the control of diseases that are insect-borne, water-borne or associated with poor hygiene – mostly in developing countries. Much of the research can be categorised as: evaluating disease control interventions; investigating implementation strategies - including working with the private sector; understanding the factors underlying household behaviour in relation to family health; or determining how control resources can be targeted most efficiently. Particular attention is paid to research directed at current health policy issues, including the gap between policy and practice. The DFID Resource Centre for Water and Environmental Health (WELL) and the Hygiene Centre make up the Unit's Environmental Health Group, which plays a leadership role in research and operational support for hygiene promotion, water supply and sanitation. The Unit also houses the largest research group in LSHTM working on malaria control, including the DIFD Team for Applied Research to Generate Effective Tools and Strategies for communicable disease control (TARGETs) and many staff in the Gates Malaria Partnership. The Unit’s valuable mosquito colonies are used for testing repellent products and insecticides in the laboratory. The Unit also includes a major grouping of researchers using spatial analysis in public health.

3. Teaching

The School offers 22 one year full-time taught courses leading to the Master of Science (MSc) degree of the University of London and the Diploma of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (DLSHTM). The Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases runs or contributes substantially to ten of these courses and the “Immunology of Infectious Diseases” course is run from within the Immunology Unit. In addition, the Department is responsible for the three-month Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) and offers a range of specialist short courses lasting usually one or two weeks. Three MSc courses are also offered by Distance-based Learning, including one on Infectious Diseases.

4. Research Training

The School offers two doctoral training programmes. The MPhil/PhD degrees are designed for those who wish to go on to a full time research career. The DrPH is directed towards those who expect their careers to be more in the practice of public health.