Senior Assistant Director

Overview

Senior Assistant Director / Assistant Director (Healthcare Epidemiology) role at Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA).

The Senior/Assistant Director supports the Deputy Director in leading the outbreak investigation and management unit of NICHE. The unit oversees the surveillance and response for infectious diseases outbreaks, ensuring effective prevention and control of infectious diseases outbreaks across the long-term care sector.

What the role is

The Senior/Assistant Director supports the Deputy Director in leading the outbreak investigation and management unit of NICHE. The unit oversees the surveillance and response for infectious diseases outbreaks, ensuring effective prevention and control of infectious diseases outbreaks across the long-term care sector. You will be working in a fast-paced and dynamic environment that would require the ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders at the same time.

What you will be working on

• Understand the complexity and challenges given the inherent social and family issues, aging population demographics of the long-term care sector.
• Conduct disease epidemiological investigations, propose control measures to break the chain of transmission
• Implement and evaluate control measures
• Engaging and collaborating with relevant government agencies and stakeholders on policies to control the spread of infectious diseases
• Prepare epidemiological reports on disease situations, including regular updates, to management
• Conduct after action reviews when indicated

Part of the work will require the officer to be onsite (e.g., MSF homes, senior day care centres, active ageing centres) for outbreak investigations, where necessary. To protect the staff, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) training and the necessary immunity screening will be done prior to deployment.

Long-term care facilities include nursing homes, MSF homes (comprising adult disability homes, children and young persons homes/children disability homes, welfare homes, sheltered homes, senior group home, transitional shelters/crisis shelters, adults disability hostels, and safe sound sleeping places), active ageing centres, senior day care centres, and community care apartments.

What we are looking for

Job responsibilities

• Assisting in the formulation of evidence-based policies to control the spread of infectious diseases, evaluation of the effectiveness of the current controls and measures in place today, and recommend improvements to disease control strategies based on evolving epidemiology of diseases and analysis of current disease control programmes and international practices for the long-term care sector.
• Engaging and collaborating with the sector lead i.e., MSF and relevant stakeholders in the long-term care sector, to formulate, implement, monitor and review policies and standard operating procedures for control of disease outbreaks. You will be working closely with the key stakeholders to align strategy, share information, review and refine processes, and maintain high-quality surveillance data for this sector.
• Leading disease epidemiological investigations, identify possible sources of transmission, propose control measures to break the chain of transmission, recommend control measures, and assist with communications to sector lead, relevant stakeholders and the public.
• Prepare disease-specific epidemiological situation reports, including regular updates to CDA and MOH Senior Management. Prepare professional inputs, liners, FAQs, and replies for external queries including from media, other government agencies.
• Crisis communication during public health events: Communicate critical information to stakeholders including healthcare providers, the public, and media during disease outbreaks to ensure timely, coordinated, and effective responses while managing rapid and accurate dissemination of information under time pressure.
• Interagency coordination: Regularly coordinate with government agencies, healthcare institutions and internal health bodies to align priorities and approaches, ensuring seamless data exchange and resource sharing.
• Public information and education: Consistently provide the public and external agencies with up-to-date and accurate information about disease prevention and control measures, making complex information understandable and fostering public trust and compliance.

Job Requirements

• Tertiary qualification, preferably good honours in a science or life science discipline; nursing background; or related disciplines e.g., bioengineering, allied health.
• Postgraduate degree in Public Health or Epidemiology or equivalent would be an advantage
• At least 5 years experience in public health would be an advantage
• Analytical mindset
• Ability to write concisely and precisely, structure information logically and coherently, and bridge technical and non-technical perspectives
• Ability to work under pressure and simultaneously on different projects
• Excellent organisational skills and resourcefulness
• Good inter-personal and communication skills
• Willing to work beyond office hours, especially during outbreaks
• Willing to continuously keep up-to-date on new developments in the communicable diseases field

As part of the shortlisting process for this role, candidates may be required to complete a medical declaration and/or undergo further assessment