Senior Programme Officer - Clinical Trials at African Academy of Sciences

Job Description

Initiative Overview

A program of the AAS and its partners, The Clinical Trial Community (CTC) online Platform seeks to aggregate clinical trial research center intelligence across the African ecosystem to:

1) Promote African research centers by providing a platform that improves their visibility, optimizes the use of clinical trials grants across research centers and helps them sustain operations and staffing beyond individual grants through collaboration across the clinical research ecosystem.

2) Reduce unnecessary duplication of effort in identifying, collecting and submitting clinical trial site feasibility assessments at the beginning of every new project.

3) Develop a robust, open access, and up-to-date database of the African clinical research landscape including a catalogue of existing clinical trial capacity, regulatory requirements, performance, and predictability for clinical and translational sciences across countries.

4) Increase capability to understand where there are duplication and gaps in capacity and funding and enable transparency of future investments and their impact

The incumbent will be expected to work in close collaboration with other AESA managed programmes through provision of operational and research support in order to achieve the overall strategic goals of the Academy.

Position Overview

The Senior Programme Officer will be responsible for providing operational and research support in the implementation and delivery of The CTC online platform.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Research
  • Perform program related research as assigned to inform the development and the after launch phase of the CTC online platform.
  • Work in close collaboration with the database developer to collect, track, assess quality, analyze and validate Africa-related data from clinical trial sites, regulatory agencies and IRB/EC’s.
  • Prepare reports, articles and presentations during development and after launch for accountability and dissemination to stakeholders, agencies and foundations that fund the Programme’s research.
  • Track and perform relevant analyses on database usage
  • Actively identify existing research platforms for possible clinical trial engagements
  • Regularly appraise the programme team on identified gaps that can be targeted for future iterations to improve the database
• Programme Support
  • Attend and represent the organization and/or Programme at internal and external meetings;
  • Working in close collaboration with the AAS Communications Manager ensure all content (reports, images, videos, social media posts) is updated on a timely basis.
  • Develop strategy for promotion and utilization of the clinical trials database.
  • Supervise relevant administrative team duties by organizing meetings/conferences, following up with vendors to monitor deliverable (including supplies), and being the contact person for clients;
  • Support other AAS programmes and departments in the delivery of their mandate especially for cross-cutting programmatic activities

Qualifications and Experience

• A PhD in biomedical sciences with at least 3 years’ experience working in the clinical trials space on the African continent is preferred, OR
• A clinical qualification (in the medical, nursing or allied health sciences) or a Masters’ degree with practical experience of over 7 years in clinical trials on the African continent.
• Experience engaging with clinical trial regulatory bodies or ethics committees/institutional review boards on the African continent
• A professional qualification in programme management and/or clinical trials management will be an added advantage.**

Knowledge and skills

• Experience in defining, collecting, synthesizing and disseminating research or survey data generated from a defined programme/project area of work
• Ability to interact with and to manage multiple stakeholders with diverse interests
• Proficiency in standard office and collaboration tools such as Microsoft Office, SharePoint

Possess well-developed interpersonal skills and ability to network and communicate across different levels of the internal organization and with external partners;

• Able to perform work independently with minimal supervision, but also participate as a team member;
• Possess strong attention to detail and maintaining a timely and efficient work-flow;
• Have strong planning organizational skills and ability to work under pressure;
• Ability to multi-task and to prioritize work amidst competing demands;
• Have unquestionable integrity, confidentiality and respect.