Publications Officer (Temporary)
Req #: | 174451 |
Department: | Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) |
Appointing Department Web Address: | http://www.healthdata.org/ |
Job Location: | Other Location, South Lake Union |
Posting Date: | 11/25/2019 |
Closing Info: | Open Until Filled |
Salary: | Salary is Competitive. Salary is Commensurate Upon Qualifications and Experience. |
Shift: | First Shift |
At the University of Washington, diversity is integral to excellence. We value and honor diverse experiences and perspectives, strive to create welcoming and respectful learning environments, and promote access, opportunity and justice for all.
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research center 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. IHME carries out a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Costs and Cost Effectiveness; Local Burden of Disease; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations. The aim is to provide policymakers, donors, and researchers with the highest-quality quantitative evidence base to make decisions that achieve better health.
IHME has an outstanding opportunity for a Temporary 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 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) and the geographic region of Ethiopia/sub-Saharan Africa, which provides a tool to quantify health loss from hundreds of diseases, injuries, and risk factors, so that health systems can be improved and disparities can be eliminated. Collected and analyzed by a consortium of more than 3,000 researchers in more than 130 countries, the data capture premature death and disability from more than 300 diseases and injuries in 195 countries, by age and sex, from 1990 to the present, allowing comparisons over time, across age groups, and among populations.
Funding is available for this position for 12 months, with a possibility to extend depending on grant funding.
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.
• Create and update production timelines, ensuring that all interrelated aspects of the schedule are being tracked and adapting timelines if milestones or deadlines shift.
• Gain a clear understanding of the complex computational machinery behind IHME’s work, and how these schedules relate to the paper production process.
• 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 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, social determinants, and education.
• Become thoroughly familiar with the details of the GBD work and the complex interdisciplinary projects included in IHME’s GBD 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 IHME’s data visualization tools in order 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.
Requirements:
• Bachelor’s degree and three years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 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
• 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.
Desired
• Master’s degree in related field.
• Experience working in global health.
• Experience with Ethiopia /sub-Saharan Africa
Conditions of Employment:
• Evening and/or weekend work will be required around publication deadlines.
Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter, and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.
Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.
The University of Washington is a leader in environmental stewardship & sustainability, and committed to becoming climate neutral.
The University of Washington is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 / 206-543-6452 (tty) or dso@uw.edu.