Consultant Epidemiologist - Emerging Infections

Job summary This post is located within the UKHSA Epidemic and Emerging Infections (EEI) Directorate within the Chief Medical Adviser (CMA) Group providing clinical and public health leadership through expert advice, guidance, epidemiological insights and evidence. The Emerging Infections and Zoonoses team is part of TARZET division (TB, respiratory, zoonoses, emerging infections, travel health, rare and imported pathogens genomics public health analysis) within the EEI directorate and is responsible for public health expertise in emerging infections, high consequence infectious diseases, zoonoses and epidemic intelligence.

EIZ collaborate with various teams across UKHSA, work closely with the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens, the NHS, APHA academic and other cross-government colleagues on national systems for the preparedness, detection and response to emerging infections, zoonoses and high consequence infectious diseases, and provide a secretariat function for the Human Animal Infection Risk Surveillance Group (HAIRS) This post will provide expert leadership across the emerging infections and zoonoses portfolio at a national level with a focus on epidemic intelligence and emerging infections.

They will be responsible for proactive and reactive national and international level epidemiology, horizon scanning and risk assessment for novel, emerging, zoonotic and high consequence pathogens. This includes strengthening UKHSA's epidemic intelligence capability through the development of rapid risk assessment methodologies, and the application of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to horizon scanning and early warning systems in collaboration with UKHSA data and analytics teams.

Within this role the postholder will routinely collaborate with teams within UKHSA and across Government and with other key partners, including academic and international organisations to support preparedness and response activities. Job description The postholder will have strong technical knowledge and skills and be able to operate effectively across the system at a senior level. Surveillance and Prevention Monitoring Develop and utilise information and intelligence systems to underpin public health action across disciplines and organisations.

Lead the development and implementation of innovative approaches to epidemic intelligence, including artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced analytics methods for horizon scanning, signal detection and risk assessment in partnership with the Chief Data Officer Group. Provide strategic leadership for the evaluation, validation and operational implementation of AI-enabled tools within epidemic intelligence workflows.

Lead collation and interpretation of relevant data to develop the most appropriate analyses from a range of sources, including highly complex epidemiological, microbiological and statistical information about the health of domestic and international populations. Analyse and evaluate quantitative and qualitative research evidence to make recommendations and inform decision making which may have long-term impacts.

Enhance UKHSA's rapid risk assessment capability for emerging infectious disease threats. Provide epidemiological leadership for the further development and operationalisation of EOIS. Support and develop teams responsible for the specialist and complex analyses of quantitative and/or qualitative datasets. Outbreak support and Epidemiological Investigations Lead multidisciplinary Incident Management teams and contribute to a range of national and international outbreak responses.

Lead on the technical and analytical aspects of epidemiological outbreak investigations including advising on study design, writing protocols for analytical studies, questionnaire development and study database development, and preparing outbreak reports in collaboration with UKHS field epidemiology services, and other data and analytics teams as necessary. Supporting responses to outb