Unit Head (Genomics and Analytics) in Berlin bei World Health Organization

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME

The mission of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme (The Programme) is to build the capacity of Member States to manage health emergency risks and, when national capacities are overwhelmed, to lead and coordinate the international health response to contain outbreaks and to provide effective relief and recovery to affected populations. The Health Emergency Intelligence and Surveillance Systems division (WSE) is responsible to build a system of collaborative intelligence enabling better decisions to avert and manage public health threats and risks. Its goal is to enable, strengthen and support countries, regional and global actors in averting and managing public health threats and risks through collaborative problem solving and decision-making for short-term action and long-term policies, informed by better data and analytics. The WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence is a new office of WHO, located in Berlin. It works with partners to enable the generation of public health relevant information to provide timely actionable insights and improve decision making to prepare for, avert and respond to public health threats. It also aims to reduce fragmentation and inefficiency by creating an ecosystem that promotes collaboration across multiple professional disciplines, sectors, and initiatives; and empower decision makers, public health professionals, and civil society to make informed public health decisions.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES

1.Provides senior technical leadership in establishing new approaches, evidence-based policies and strategies, surveillance, and capacity building initiatives for implementation across Regional and Country Office programmes in the respective area of work.

2. Provides senior level health technical expertise and advice to the Director and Senior Management in the area of genomic surveillance and analytics on the development and establishment of new health strategies and policies for implementation into and/or the monitoring and evaluation of national and global policies.

3.Ensures effective management and accountability of the programme area in delivering its objectives through efficient management of a diverse team of technical experts, financial resources and effective work plan coordination to optimize the programme's deliverables, in line with the mandate of the Organization.

4.Ensures the monitoring and evaluation and reporting of the Department's area of work of key performance indicators and global reporting requirements and mechanisms to optimize performance of Department deliverables.

5.Serves as the manager of the International Pathogen Surveillance Network (IPSN) hosted by the WHO Pandemic and Epidemic Hub.

6.Serves as a scientific/technical reference among UN Agencies and the peer community on the development of global genomic surveillance and analytic capabilities.

7.Builds technical partnerships with other UN Agencies, donors, research institutions and other stakeholders in the development of global genomic surveillance and analytic capabilities to position the technical area of work and implementation into respective policies.

8. Represents the programme area of work in global fora and capacity building activities.

9. Supports global expert networks to develop genomic surveillance tools, methods, and approaches in a collaborative environment.

10. Provides senior technical expertise for analytics and bio informatics for genomic surveillance for the detection and response to health emergencies. Leads the creation and implementation of activities and projects that build capacity for genomic surveillance among Member States, External Partners, and UN Agencies to better detect and respond to health emergencies.

11. Performs all other related duties as assigned.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Essential: An advanced level university degree in public health, medicine, biostatistics, genomics, molecular biology, or other degree related to the functions of the position.
Desirable