Dear All,
Just now posted is an excellent opportunity to be a full-time Team Lead at WHO in the AMR group with Peter Beyer. Here’s the link you need:
https://careers.who.int/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=2100011
In brief, this is a very visible and senior Team Lead role with a top-level job description of “Develops and proposes innovative technical health policies and strategies for implementation through collaboration with regional and country offices to strengthen and improve technical capacity of target clienteles.”
I’ve included some additional details below my signature (there is more on the WHO website). Informally, I know that the role includes oversight of the reviews of the antibacterial development pipeline, the new work on fungal infections (priority setting and pipeline review), an update of the priority pathogens list and more.
Applications are due by 10 Feb 2021. Could this be you? If so, please get to it!
All best wishes, –jr
John H. Rex, MD | Chief Medical Officer, F2G Ltd. | Operating Partner, Advent Life Sciences. Follow me on Twitter: @JohnRex_NewAbx. See past newsletters and subscribe for the future: https://amr.solutions/blog/. All opinions are my own.
DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES
- Develops and proposes innovative technical health policies and strategies for implementation through collaboration with regional and country offices to strengthen and improve technical capacity of target clienteles.
- Manages the subunit area of work and a small team of technical staff, to optimize the programme’s deliverables in line with the mandate of the Organization.
- Develops and monitors workplans and budgets for the team’s activities and follow up on the implementation of planned activities.
- Analyses data and information on best practices in implementing sustainable public health programmes and disseminates information.
- Manages research activities and the implementation of the subunit’s activities and dissemination of information for capacity-building in the respective area of work.
- Conducts monitoring and evaluation of the specific field of work and conducts timely reporting for decision-makers.
- Provides technical guidance and works closely with counterparts in technical departments across the Organization and liaises with counterparts in partner UN agencies, donors and other stakeholders to harmonize recommendations on policies and strategies related to public health and the facilitation of successful implementation of national and/or global health programmes.
- Upon delegation represent WHO at various meetings.
- Perform all other related duties as assigned.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Essential: An advanced university degree in health or natural sciences related to the functions of the position.
- Desirable: A PhD in one of the above-mentioned fields.
- Essential:
- A minimum of seven years of professional experience working on antimicrobial resistance or communicable diseases with at least three years experience in research policy or drug development.
- Demonstrated exposure at the international level.
- Desirable:
- Experience in developing and implementing global standards, instruments, policies and strategies on antimicrobial resistance or One Health.
- Experience with WHO, UN or other relevant international organizations.
- Skills
- Good understanding of antimicrobial resistance policies on a global and national level.
- Good understanding of research and development of antimicrobial treatments and financing of research.
- Strong skills in the area of developing and establishing polices and strategies.
- Strong skills and ability in managing diverse teams and financial resources.
- Ability to engage effectively and diplomatically with external partners including ministries of health, donor institutions, civil society, and other stakeholders.
- Commitment to collaborate effectively with other key partners in the health subject area.
- Languages
- Essential: Expert knowledge of English.
- Desirable:
- Intermediate knowledge of French.
- Intermediate knowledge of Another language.
REMUNERATION
- WHO salaries for staff in the Professional category are calculated in US dollars.
- The remuneration for the above position comprises an annual base salary starting at USD 73,516 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable), a variable post adjustment, which reflects the cost of living in a particular duty station, and currently amounts to USD 5697 per month for the duty station indicated above.
- Other benefits include 30 days of annual leave, allowances for dependent family members, home leave, and an education grant for dependent children.
Current funding opportunities (most current list is here):
- FDA have released RFPs for work on breakpoint updates, impact of extended duration infusion beta-lactam therapy, and development of PROs for NTM, ABPA, and coccidioidomycosis. All have 28 Jan 2021 deadlines for an initial Quad Chart and White Paper. See this newsletter for more details.
- The US Department of Defense is funding pre-clinical research on small molecules vs. P. aeruginosa. See this newsletter for details. The deadline is 18 Feb 2021.
- FDA have announced two fellowship opportunities (one for research on ordinal endpoints, one for research on endpoints in cUTI), both with a 26 Feb 2021 deadline. See this newsletter for more details.
- CDC has released an RFP entitled “Safe Healthcare, Epidemiology, and Prevention Research Development (SHEPheRD)” that seeks support for a broad range of healthcare epidemiology projects. See this newsletter for details. The deadline is 3 Mar 2021.
- [NEW] The Stockholm-based PAR Foundation seeks applications for projects with the potential to prevent infections and antimicrobial resistance in the elderly. Grants can be for up to 1M SEK (~$120,000) for projects running up to 3 years. The deadline for applications is 10 Mar 2021; go here for further details.
- JPIAMR has an open research call entitled “One Health interventions to prevent or reduce the development and transmission of AMR.” More details on the call are here; the deadline for pre-proposals is 16 Mar 2021.
- The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Applicant Assistance Program (AAP) provides no cost support for companies planning to apply for a Phase II, Fast Track, or Direct-to-Phase II SBIR or STTR Award. Go here for details.
- Novo REPAIR Impact Fund closed its most recent round on 31 Jul 2020. Go here for current details.
- CARB-X recently announced that their existing resources will be reserved to fund their existing portfolio (75 total awards, and counting and they conclude contracting on prior rounds), including future options on those awards. New rounds from CARB-X will occur only after new funding is obtained in 2021.
- The Global AMR R&D Hub’s dynamic dashboard (link) summarizes funders and projects by geography, stage, and more.
- It’s not a funder, but AiCuris’ AiCubator offers incubator support to very early stage projects. Read more about it here.
- Finally, you might also be interested in the most current lists of R&D incentives (link) and priority pathogens (link)
Upcoming meetings of interest to the AMR community (most current list is here):
- 26-28 Jan 2021 (online, runs ~7.30a-5.00p Central each day): 4th Annual Texas Medical Center Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship Conference. Sponsored by McGovern Medical School, ARLG, and the Gulf Coast Consortia, the agenda includes both poster sessions and keynotes. The call for abstracts closes 18 Dec 2020. Go here for more details.
- 2-3 Feb 2021 (online, 1-5p GMT): Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Conference 2021 sponsored by BSAC and GARDP in collaboration with the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences (HIPS), the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) and the International Research Alliance for Antibiotic Discovery and Development (IRAADD, a JPIAMR-funded network). Go here for details and to register.
- 10-11 Feb 2021 (online, 10a-4p EST): Virtual public meeting of PACCARB (US Presidential Advisory Council on Combatting Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria). Go here for details.
- 25 Feb 2021 (online, 5-6.30p CET): GARDP-sponsored webinar entitled “From discovery to the pre-clinical antimicrobial candidate,” moderated by Michael Mourez. Go here to register.
- 10-12 Mar 2021 (Stellenbosch, South Africa): The University of Cape Town’s H3D Research Centre will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a symposium covering the Centre’s research on Malaria, TB, Neglected Tropical Diseases, and AMR. Go here to register; abstract deadline is 15 Nov 2020.
- 15-18 Mar 2021 (virtual, EU afternoon timing): The Uppsala Health Summit is focusing this year on “Managing Antimicrobial Resistance through Behaviour Change.” This is a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder (policy, industry, academia, civil society) program that focuses on a different topic each year. Go here to for more details.
- 9-12 Jul 2021 (Vienna): Annual ECCMID meeting (#31)
- 18-21 May 2021 (Albuquerque, New Mexico): Biannual meeting of the MSGERC (Mycoses Study Group Education and Research Consortium). Save-the-date announcement is here, details to follow.
- 24-29 May 2021 (online and in Geneva): ESPID 2021, the 39th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases. Save-the-date announcement is here, details to follow.
- 3-7 Jun 2021 (Anaheim), ASM Microbe 2021. Go here for details.
- 20-24 June 2021 (Toronto): International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD-12). Go here for details.
- [NEW] 20-24 Jun 2021 (virtual, various times): World Microbe Forum sponsored by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS). Go here for more details and to register.
- 27 Jun-2 Jul 2021 (Ventura, CA): Gordon Research Conference entitled “Antimicrobial Peptides”. Go here for details, go here for the linked 26-27 Jun Gordon Research Seminar that precedes it.
- 5-21 Aug 2021 (Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA): Residential course entitled “Molecular Mycology: Current Approaches to Fungal Pathogenesis.” This 2-week intensive training program has run annually for many years and gets outstanding reviews. Go here for details.
- 8-11 Oct 2021 (Aberdeen, Scotland): 10th Trends in Medical Mycology. Go here for details.
- 16-24 Oct 2021 (Annecy, France): Interdisciplinary Course on Antibiotics and Resistance (ICARe). This is a soup-to-nuts residential course on antibiotics, antibiotic resistance, and antibiotic R&D. The course is very intense, very detailed, and gets rave reviews. Registration is here and is limited to 40 students. Bonus feature: For obvious reasons, the course didn’t happen in 2020! But as a celebration of the course’s 5th year, a webinar version was held on 29 Oct 2020: go here to stream it.
- 6-11 Mar 2022 (Il Ciocco, Tuscany): Gordon Research Conference entitled “New Antibacterial Discovery and Development”. Go here for details, go here for the linked 5-6 Mar Gordon Research Seminar that precedes it.
