The Foundation
We are the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Founded on a simple premise: people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. We believe our employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve. We provide an exceptional benefits package to employees and their families which include comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in several employee communities. As a workplace, weโre committed to creating an environment for you to thrive both personally and professionally.
The TeamOur Global Health (GH) program harnesses advances in science and technology to save lives in low and middle income countries. We focus on the health problems that have a major impact in developing countries but get too little attention and funding. Where proven tools exist, we support sustainable ways to improve their delivery. Where they donโt, we invest in research and development of new interventions, such as vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics. Our work in infectious diseases focuses on strategies to fight and prevent HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, neglected and other infectious diseases, enteric and diarrheal diseases and pneumonia. These strategies are supported by functional teams that focus on Discovery and Translational Sciences, Vaccine Development, and Integrated Development.
The goal of the Enterics, Diagnostics, Genomics, & Epidemiology (EDGE) Team is to accelerate the reduction in childhood deaths from diarrheal diseases in low- and lower-middle-income countries, and to eliminate typhoid as a public health problem globally. We also aim to enhance the development and use of diagnostics for infectious diseases, to develop low-cost and optimized approaches to pathogen surveillance in LMICs and to improve the quality of data and modelling for public health decision making. Guided by the burden of disease and the threat of outbreaks, we develop vaccines, diagnostics, and tools for detection and surveillance of pathogens for safe and effective delivery to our populations in need. Vaccines are being developed or optimized to target rotavirus, bacterial causes of diarrhea (including Shigella and cholera), and enteric fever (typhoid and paratyphoid). We also focus on developing low-cost point-of-care molecular diagnostics, novel diagnostics platforms and improving specimen collection devices. Surveillance tools in development include tools for pathogen detection and genomic surveillance from clinical samples and wastewater to optimize global and local surveillance for outbreak and endemic pathogens.
Your Role
We seek a self-starter who can integrate a diverse set of skills and perspectives to build consensus, develop and drive forward progress on sophisticated topics, such as gut health and product development, and provide both technical and operational capacity to the Enterics program. As a key member of the Enterics Program, the Program Officer (PO), is accountable for leading a portfolio of investments and partnerships in support of the Enterics Program priorities. This will consist of building out a new portfolio focused on innovative new solutions to complement our oral vaccine portfolio, primarily focused on interventions that seek to modify the gut for improved vaccine effectiveness and exploratory medicine approaches that could accelerate our ability to swiftly test and down select our portfolio of gut interventions as well as support the discovery or development of next generation vaccines for enteric infection.
You will provide scientific expertise, product development leadership, program management, strategy development and communications on EDGE team priorities, Product Development Partners, and other foundation partners. You will also partner closely with the Deputy Director, Enteric & Diarrheal Diseases, to contribute to the continued development of the teamโs strategic vision, including participating in the setting of the overall strategy and goals for the group.
What You'll Do
Apply scientific, technical, and strategic business expertise to identify, develop, and lead a portfolio of strategic, performance-based grants and contracts, including alignment of internal and external collaborators, review of letters of inquiry and grant proposals as well as providing clear, concise and insightful written analyses and recommendations for funding.
Partner closely with team leadership, including the Director and DD Enteric & Diarrheal Diseases, to communicate and implement the overall Enteric Program strategy.
Bring forward innovative ideas for enabling more rapid, cost-effective and geographically diverse development of gut health interventions.
Lead the discovery, development and implementation of approaches to generate new vaccine candidates for enteric infections.
Actively search for and create opportunities to develop new partnerships and between external partners that will advance GH programs, such as oral adjuvants.
Contribute information related to grant portfolio and domain-level data (Enterics), such as documenting key activities and decisions; inputting into key business processes and performance measurement tools; preparing materials for communication with foundation leadership.
Consult, provide thought partnership, and support to grantees and other partners to enhance the impact of projects, including the design of suitable studies and clinical trials.
Drive facilitation, project management, stakeholder management, and follow-up on action items for cross-cutting initiatives led by the Enterics Program with other functional teams.
Represent the foundation and program to the external world.
Forge collaborations with key global experts and internal teams in gut health, nutrition, immunology and multidisciplinary research on diarrheal diseases.
Represent foundation interests in developing networks for the program
This role will require the ability to travel up to 30% domestically and internationally.
Your ExperiencePhD and/or MD with 7+ years of experience working in one or more of the following areas: multidisciplinary research with infectious diseases/immunology, product development and/or gut physiology.
Experience in enteric and diarrheal or other infectious diseases, and/or working with different vaccine platforms a plus.
Experience working in or with partners in low- and middle-income settings and ability to navigate geography specific contexts.
Validated program and stakeholder management skills: ability to coordinate inputs from many people; to track progress against targets and identify barriers to progress; to plan agendas and facilitate meetings; and to organize, evaluate, and communicate information.
Proven ability to work with flexibility, efficiency, and enthusiasm in a fast-paced and complex internal and external environment.
Demonstrated experience in scientific writing and data analysis, written and oral communication skills, and experience advocating and communicating with a broad and diverse audience.
Tolerance for ambiguity and ability to apply structure to simplify complex problems.
Experience with business and technical due-diligence assessments of potential investments. Ability to synthesize technical and programmatic information toward strategic decision making.
Strong judgment with a demonstrated ability to independently address complex issues, multiple tasks, confidential information, and contending priorities with skill, discretion, a strong attention to detail, flexibility and diplomacy.
Intellectual quickness, curiosity, discipline, resourcefulness and resilience.
Proven passion for the Foundationโs values with a commitment to deliver results against our mission.