Veterinary Technical Advisor

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Position: Veterinary Technical Advisor
Reports to: WCS Wildlife Health Program Associate Director - Asia Respective WCS Country Program Directors
Number of vacancy/Location: Three (3)
Location: 1 vacancy - Vientiane, Lao PDR; 1 vacancy - Hanoi, Vietnam; 1 vacancy - Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Country Program/Sector: Global Conservation/ Wildlife Health Program
Position Type: Full-Time (Fixed-Term)
Expected travel: As required within the region, occasionally to New York if/when needed, and to donor/technical meetings as needed/possible

Organization Background:

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a US non-profit, tax-exempt, private organization established in 1895 that saves wildlife and wild places by understanding critical issues, crafting science-based solutions, and taking conservation actions that benefit nature and humanity. With more than a century of experience, long-term commitments in dozens of landscapes, presence in more than 60 nations, and experience helping to establish over 150 protected areas across the globe, WCS has amassed the biological knowledge, cultural understanding and partnerships to ensure that vibrant, wild places and wildlife thrive alongside local communities. Working with local communities and organizations, that knowledge is applied to address species, habitat and ecosystem management issues critical to improving the quality of life of poor rural people whose livelihoods depend on the direct utilization of natural resources.

The WCS Greater Mekong Program works to protect the last and largest intact tropical forests and freshwater, riverine and coastal wetland systems remaining across the countries of the Greater Mekong. Working simultaneously at community, landscape, national government, and wider policy levels we seek to protect and finance core landscapes and PAs; reduce the drivers of landscape scale deforestation; disrupt and dismantle wildlife trafficking networks; and promote policy change to improve land-use planning at a scale that addresses drivers of deforestation and reduce demand for wildlife and wildlife products.

The WCS Wildlife Health Program is central to delivering on our mission to save wildlife and wild places around the globe. Wildlife, livestock, and human diseases will likely have a significant impact on the future development of sustainable land uses, protected areas, transboundary natural resource management, other biodiversity conservation approaches, and livelihood opportunities in many of the landscapes and seascapes where we work. Our work at the interface of wildlife, domestic animal, and human health has demonstrated that a One Health approach can build new constituencies for conservation and strengthen existing ones, while mitigating a key threat to conservation.

Job Summary:

WCS seeks dynamic, experienced veterinarians with a strong interest in international wildlife conservation, and addressing issues at the nexus of wildlife health, domestic animal health, and human health. These Veterinary Technical Advisor position require combined expertise in training, epidemiology, pathology, and wildlife/conservation medicine to support the design and implementation of a wildlife bio-surveillance network in Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Lao PDR as part of a three year United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Wildlife Surveillance Project funded through the United States Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP).

These positions provide an opportunity to be part of a “real world” One Health project working with partners across the wildlife, health, and livestock sectors to establish an operational network for wildlife disease surveillance in the three countries as part of WCS’s dynamic conservation program in the region. The INDOPACOM Wildlife Surveillance Project is part of a broader DTRA initiative to build capacity for especially dangerous pathogen (EDP) surveillance, and strengthen bio-surveillance networks in the region, by contributing to EDP surveillance study design, EDP disease reporting, and EDP risk analysis.

Major Responsibilities:

In consultation and coordination with WCS Country Program Leadership and the Wildlife Health Program, the Veterinary Technical Advisor will:

• Work to operationalize wildlife bio-surveillance networks and help leverage lessons learned to other WCS regions working to build wildlife health capacity and disease surveillance.
• Contribute to the development of active and passive disease surveillance protocols designed to detect and validate reported wildlife morbidity/mortality events.
• Work in collaboration with national One Health partners and platforms to develop national strategy documents for wildlife bio-surveillance and systems for disease reporting and risk analysis in coordination with existing networks in the livestock and public health sectors, including re-enforcement of any current frameworks or processes in place.
• Contribute to the development of training materials, piloting new training delivery mechanisms, and monitoring the effectiveness of training programs to enhance wildlife bio-surveillance networks.
• Build capacity in national governmental agencies for wildlife disease surveillance and investigation by conducting training workshops and providing practical “on-the-job” training opportunities.
• Coordinate with in-country and regional laboratories to build capacity and provide diagnostic support for wildlife bio-surveillance networks in the region.
• Explore utilization of media screening, disease reporting hotlines, mobile-based reporting, and village-level reporting to expand and enhance national and regional wildlife bio-surveillance systems.
• Contribute to achieving WCS’s national and landscape visions through integrating wildlife health activities into ongoing landscape conservation programs, and supporting the implementation of site-level conservation activities.
• Provide coordination support for WCS wildlife health project activities and technical oversight for national WCS wildlife health project staff, to ensure that WCS meets wildlife health project objectives including for information management (bio-surveillance database) and project reporting.
• Coordinate progress on all technical, administrative, financial, and logistical aspects of WCS wildlife health projects in the position location (Vietnam, Cambodia, or Lao PDR).
• Assist with fund-raising efforts for wildlife health, identifying and enhancing support from existing and new sources, assisting in development of proposals and reports, building relationships with funders, in collaboration with Global Resources, Program Development and other Regional Program staff.
• Other Professional Activities: Provide technical advice as requested by WCS Country Programs and liaise with professional associations and organizations as needed; attend professional conferences; write and lecture for professional audiences on issues relevant to the WCS mission.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements:

• Advanced degree in veterinary medicine or a related discipline.
• Graduate training and/or work experience in health training delivery, epidemiology, pathology, wildlife medicine, and/or disease ecology.
• Background knowledge of disease surveillance networks, outbreak response, and epidemiological tools used to monitor wildlife health, preferably with field-based experience.
• Demonstrated project management skills including workflow and budget planning, prioritizing tasks across multiple project components, mentoring projects teams, and delivering on deadlines.
• Demonstrated writing and oral communication skills to effectively communicate project findings to a broad constituency, including both local and international scientific and lay audiences (e.g. scientists, policy staff, government agency managers, donors, and the general public).
• Comfortable working overseas in complex and diverse cultural settings; an ability to adapt approaches to local cultures and project situation, while maintaining a high professional standard.
• Willingness to work flexible hours that may include weekends and public holidays.
• English language proficiency required and multi-lingual language skills preferred.

Application Process:

Interested candidates, who meet the above qualifications should apply by emailing an application letter and CV together with salary requirements and the names and contact information of three references to: [email protected] [1] by January 4th 2019 deadline.

Please include “Veterinary Technical Advisor” in the subject line of your email and indicate your location preference, if any, in the body of your application letter.

In addition, please note that all candidates must also apply online via the WCS career portal at:
http://www.wcs.org/about-us/careers [2]

WCS is an equal opportunity employer and the organization complies with all employment and labor laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in hiring and ensures that candidates from all backgrounds are fairly and consistently considered during the recruitment process. We are dedicated to hiring and supporting a diverse workforce. We are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment and look for future team members who share that same values. The organization provides equal employment opportunities for all qualified candidates. The organization does not discriminate for employment based on age, color, disability, gender identify, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by laws and regulations

Please note that only short listed candidates will be contacted for interview.