Surveillance and Prevention Scientist

The Blood Safety, Hepatitis, STI and HIV (BSHSH) Division is the national centre for surveillance of hepatitis, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in England.
As a Scientist the postholder will be part of a dynamic team responsible for delivering the development, management and coordination of surveillance systems of communicable diseases, focusing on hepatitis. The postholder will support the data collection and validation, and production of routine surveillance intelligence in these areas.
The main responsibilities of the postholder will be to maintain and develop hepatitis surveillance systems, working closely with a wide variety of professionals both within and outside UKHSA to ensure high quality data. The postholder will oversee the co-ordination of requests for data associated with hepatitis, the production of regular and ad hoc outputs from these systems for inclusion in routine national and international reports and information requests from external stakeholders. The role requires liaising with stakeholders within the organisation and outside to lead on the mandatory reporting, quality assurance and standard processes. The postholder will have strong data management skills, ideally with experience in surveillance data. The postholder must have excellent interpersonal skills and an ability to work effectively both autonomously and within a team.
The BSHSH Division aims to:

• Describe trends in the incidence and prevalence of hepatitis, STIs and HIV, especially in important behavioural population sub-groups;
• Describe trends in the incidence and prevalence of all infections transmissible through blood, tissue and organ donations;
• Provide national reference and specialist microbiology and virology services, for public health, clinical and diagnostic purposes;
• Monitor the outputs and effectiveness of hepatitis, STI and HIV prevention activities and programmes and support development of national policy;
• Provide information for local needs assessment, service commissioning and evaluation, and to guide prevention activities aimed at reducing risk behaviours and interrupting infection transmission, including through blood, organ and tissue donation;
• Investigate national and uncommon outbreaks, respond to international health alerts, and provide advice on the risks posed

Location
61 Colindale Avenue, London, NW9 5EQ
The UK Health Security Agency operates a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours.

• Please be aware that this role can only be worked from within the UK and not overseas. Relocation expenses are not available.*

Working Pattern –Full Time, Part Time, Job Share, Flexible Working
Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Range of health and wellbeing support

As a Surveillance and Prevention Scientist your main responsibilities will include:

• Develop, maintain and document (standard operational procedures) the surveillance systems
• Planning, organising and delivering on a range of data requests requiring analytic input, including negotiating and agreeing the most appropriate data output, initiating and planning workloads and setting delivery timescales
• Support senior staff in the management and continued development of surveillance databases.
• Support senior staff in the management of outbreak investigations, liaising with internal and external stakeholders.
• Perform all work in cognisance of data protection requirements and the need to maintain confidentiality and security of surveillance information
• Understanding which are the key local and national stakeholders with an interest in hepatitis data both within and outside UKHSA. Attending meetings with key local stakeholders, representing the hepatitis team and BSHSH department at events
• Communicate effectively specialist information with colleagues
• Using a variety of methods including written briefings and oral presentations to communicate the implication of public health analytical outputs for action to improve local population health to internal and external stakeholders from a range of backgrounds
• Working collaboratively as part of the analytical capacity. Assisting colleagues in the delivery of the analytical work programme and with colleagues in other analytical teams in UKHSA as required

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary.Please review the job description for a full list of roles and responsibilities.