Project Lead: Private Laboratory Engagement - Addlestone, United Kingdom - Veterinary Medicines Directorate

Veterinary Medicines Directorate

Verified Company

Addlestone, United Kingdom

3 weeks ago

Posted by:

Tom O´Connor

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Description

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), and core Defra are involved in the Cabinet Office's National Biosurveillance Network (NBN), which is a major initiative to pilot and improve cross-government surveillance for biological threats.

We have a vacancy for a

Project Lead:
Private Laboratory Engagement in the Antimicrobial Resistance Team.

The NBN is a key component of the UK's newly refreshed Biological Security Strategy (BSS), which outlines the UK's cross government mission to achieve resilience to a spectrum of biological threats.

The NBN aims to improve the UK's ability to characterise and report biological risks across the One Health spectrum, reliably and rapidly.

This includes improving ways of working to better record, share and utilise surveillance outputs, and bringing data together to generate a holistic picture of risks including AMR.

A key focus of the NBN is facilitating the sharing of privately-held data with government, which we are piloting for data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animals.

AMR is a truly One Health issue, with resistant organisms able to transfer between animals and people, and resistance genes being transmissible between commensal and pathogenic bacteria.

In the UK, we have well-established programmes of AMR surveillance in healthy food-producing animals at slaughter. We also have extensive surveillance of AMR in bacteria causing disease in people.

However, the majority of testing for AMR in veterinary diagnostic submissions is performed by private veterinary laboratories and does not feed into governmental surveillance.

This means our understanding of AMR in animals is limited, which affects our wider ability to assess AMR risks, and detect and respond to emerging threats.

In this pilot, we will be exploring the sharing of veterinary AMR data held by private veterinary laboratories with government.

This work will build on an existing VMD/APHA proof-of-concept with a limited number of labs.

This exciting new role will assume overall responsibility for successful delivery of this pilot, leading on engagement with private laboratories and the wider veterinary sector.

You will ensure collaborative, two-way communication to understand barriers and possible motivations for this kind of data-sharing, while building on existing relationships in other areas of animal health.

You will liaise with experts at the VMD and APHA and external partners to ensure effective join-up across animal health sectors.

You will also interface with the AMR team at APHA, and the Surveillance Intelligence Unit (SIU), to enable collation, verification, and analysis of external AMR data.

Experience required:

Prior experience in veterinary medicine or veterinary laboratory settings.
Proven experience building collaborations and delivering in partnership, within or outside government.
An ability to oversee complex projects effectively, troubleshoot problems, and respond flexibly ensuring timely delivery of goals.
Experience building and managing diverse stakeholder networks, achieving tangible progress on shared objectives.
Record of providing leadership and motivation in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty, whilst ensuring work remains aligned with overarching goals.
An understanding of antimicrobial resistance and its importance in veterinary and One Health contexts
You must be proficient in the use of Microsoft Office 365 packages, particularly Word, Excel and Outlook, can navigate the internet and can learn to use the VMD's bespoke IT systems.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate is an Equal Opportunity employer

No Recruitment Agency, Newspaper or Publication calls please

Job Types:
Full-time, Part-time, Fixed term contract

Salary:
£57,316.00-£64,380.00 per year

Benefits: