Job Opportunity: Publications Officer, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington
PUBLICATIONS OFFICER – Req #:136266
Department: INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH METRICS AND EVALUATION
Appointing Department Web Address: http://www.healthdata.org
Job Location: Downtown Seattle
Job Location Detail: 2301 5th Ave., Suite 600
Posting Date:08/08/2016
Closing Info: Open Until Filled
Salary: Salary is commensurate with experience and education
The University of Washington (UW) is proud to be one of the nation's premier educational and research institutions. Our people are the most important asset in our pursuit of achieving excellence in education, research and community service. Our staff not only enjoys outstanding benefits and professional growth opportunities, but also an environment noted for diversity, community involvement, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is a dynamic organization at the University of Washington. Its mission is to monitor global health conditions and health systems, as well as to evaluate interventions, initiatives, and reforms. It is building an audience of interested policymakers, researchers, donors, and other decision-makers in health who are interested in learning more about how to apply, use, and derive better evidence in global health.
IHME has an outstanding opportunity for a full-time Publications Officer. The primary purpose of this position is to support the development of high-quality peer-reviewed scientific papers for IHME's work in fields including epidemiology, biostatistics, survey methodology, health economics, demography, and social determinants. Particular emphasis will be given to the complex Global Burden of Disease enterprise, an analytic approach to measure and compare the fatal and non-fatal impact of diseases, injuries, and risk factors across the world. The individual will manage the production process to produce polished papers, in collaboration with researchers, for submission to peer-reviewed publications in order to broaden the quantitative evidence base for health.
Responsibilities Include:
Publications Management
Manage the paper production process for select publications, working with project officers, faculty, researchers, fellows, and data professionals, from draft development to publication.
Gain a clear understanding of the complex computational machinery behind IHME's work, and how these schedules relate to the paper production process.
Create and update production timelines, ensuring that all interrelated aspects of the schedule are being tracked and adapting timelines if milestones or deadlines shift.
Develop an understanding of roles and areas of expertise of IHME faculty and staff; be able to identify the appropriate team member to assign to paper tasks.
Maintain strong attention to detail while planning around contingencies.
Writing
Assist in writing high-quality scientific articles for submission to peer-reviewed journals.
Edit manuscripts for consistency, clarity, grammar, and syntax.
Translate complex scientific concepts and data into language appropriate for audiences of specific interest for the paper topic and journal chosen for submission.
Review and discuss results with researchers (including faculty, fellows, and external researchers) in order to identify key messages to highlight for scientific audiences.
Engage in regular discussion and debate with researchers, collaborators, and project managers about the key messages, representations of data, and the context of their presentation.
Participate in the development of concise and accurate descriptions of research for use in publications, including press releases, policy briefs, and infographics.
Engage with external collaborators to incorporate their feedback to draft scientific manuscripts, hone messages, and finalize manuscripts for submission.
Participate in the peer-review process by facilitating required revisions and formulating responses to journal editors as appropriate.
Research Learning
Develop a command of the intellectual material and analytic concepts that are central to IHME's work, which span epidemiology, biostatistics, survey methodology, health economics, demography, and social determinants.
Become thoroughly familiar with the details of complex interdisciplinary projects included in IHME's Global Burden of Disease portfolio, including their goals, objectives, and activities.
Become familiar with related scientific literature to understand how to best to describe IHME's findings in manuscripts.
Understand and interpret statistical results of studies in order to summarize them in a clear, concise, and scientifically accurate manner.
Become familiar with the data visualization tools used to access the high volume of data produced by IHME; be able to extract key details from those data.
Support other Scientific Communications functions as needed.
Position Complexities
The individual needs to be able to communicate well with researchers from a diversity of disciplines, expertise, and cultural backgrounds, often across time zones around the world and under time-constrained circumstances.
Impacts to Organization and University
The position is integral to IHME being able to expand the quantitative evidence base in health, especially through dissemination of scientific results in peer-reviewed journals. IHME's credibility relies upon demonstration and dissemination of high-quality science in the international arena. Publication in peer-reviewed journals helps establish and maintain that credibility.
Further Information: See IHME's website: www.healthdata.org
REQUIREMENTS:
Master's degree or higher in social sciences or related field and five years of related experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Additional Requirements:
Proven experience with scientific writing or publishing.
Experience working in global health strongly preferred.
Demonstrated expertise managing complex projects with shifting deadlines and involvement of multiple stakeholders.
Demonstrated ability to quickly learn and command complex, multidisciplinary material in the social sciences.
Demonstrated ability to write about scientific, technical content clearly and concisely.
Ability to quickly understand and synthesize relevant materials for scientific audiences.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment in collaboration with a range of individuals.
Strong written and oral communication skills with direct experience presenting to scientific audiences.
Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to develop positive relationships with external constituents and IHME colleagues from a diverse set of disciplines, expertise, and backgrounds.
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.
Condition of Employment: Appointment to this position is contingent upon obtaining satisfactory results from a criminal background check.
More info: http://hr.uw.edu/benefits/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/07/prostaff.pdf