Vacancy title:
Laboratory Scientific Officer

Jobs at:
Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI)

Deadline of this Job:
Friday, 10 March 2017

Duty Station:
Kampala, Uganda

Job details:

Background:
The mission of the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) is to build capacity of health systems in Africa for the delivery of sustainable, high quality care and prevention of HIV/AIDS and related infectious diseases through training, research, and advanced clinical services. IDI has five operational areas through which it works to achieve its mission: Prevention, Care and Treatment; Training, Research and Laboratory services (provided through a partnership with the Makerere University-John Hopkins University Core Lab) and Outreach.

Project Details:
IDI has received a subcontract from Makerere University Walter Reed Project to implement activities in Uganda of the Joint Mobile Disease Intervention Clinical Capability (JMEDICC) at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital (FPRRH). JMEDICC is a” consortium comprising the US Naval Medical Research Center in partnership with the US Army Medical Research institute oi infectious Diseases and the US Department of Defense.

The project aims to develop a research platform to address the knowledge gap of effective clinician management of sepsis and severe infectious diseases in general. The clinical team will be responsible for conducting observational and interventional trials in the management of sepsis. The clinical team will be provided with ongoing advanced training in clinical care and research to enable the team respond to culture outbreaks of infectious diseases including Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) within Fort Portal and surrounding districts. This platform will be used to generate clinical research data to support licensure applications for promising therapeutics for EVD or to provide evidence-based standards of care for improved EVD management.

In order to strengthen support clinical and research capacity at FPRRH, IDI is recruiting as follows:

Job Title: Laboratory Scientific Officer
(Microbiology) (1 Position)
Duration: 12 months, full time, renewable

Responsible to: Microbiologist (in-charge of microbiology lab)

Educational requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Laboratory Technology/Science or equivalent
  
• An additional qualification in microbiology will be an added advantage.

Working Experience:

• At least 2 years progressive experience performing bacterial culture and sensitive testing in a busy laboratory
  
• Good knowledge of GCLP will be an added advantage .
  
• Participation in VHF outbreak investigation and response in or outside Uganda will be an added advantage

Required personal qualities:

• Ability to communicate well with clinicians, nurses, study staff, patients and their care-givers
  
• Excellent organizational skills and flexibility, including the ability to manage and move between multiple sites
  
• Flexibility to work long hours which may occasionally extend beyond normal working hours in order to complete critical tasks.
  
• Flexibility to work long hours which may occasionally extend beyond normal working hours or on-call duty
  
• Demonstration of full understanding of team dynamics and systems thinking

Roles & Responsibilities
The incumbent will:

• Participate in strengthening the laboratory quality management systems based on the WHO V SLIPTA/SLMTA approach
  
• Apply principles of GCP and GCLP in performing routine diagnostic works
  
• Participate in the development of analytical plans and SOPs that are in compliance with research protocols
  
• Participate in developing an up-to-date Document and Record control system for all research documents and records
  
• Participate in implementation of systems for quality audits, quality control and occurrence management
  
• Validate/verify all microbiology equipment (new and old) and methods and keep up-to-date equipment files.
  
• Perform routine culture and sensitivity tests and other diagnostic works in microbiology
  
• Be proficient in the use of microscopy and Rapid Diagnostic Tests in the detection of malaria parasites
  
• Train and support continuing education for laboratory personnel on laboratory techniques, use of equipment and sate collection, storage and transportation of specimens
  
• Any other reasonable duties that may be assigned.
  
• Attend all study team meetings

Job application procedure

Qualified and interested persons who wish to apply may hand deliver, an application letter with a detailed CV, naming at least two professional referees, to:

The Manager, Human Resources
Infectious Diseases Institute
P. O. Box 22418, Kampala.
hr@idi.co.ug

Deadline for receipt of applications is Friday, 10 March 2017. Only shortlisted candidates will be invited for interviews.

IDI is an equal employment organization and does not solicit for any fees at any stage of the recruitment process.