Manager, Medical Education for Ethiopia

JOB SUMMARY:

Over the past four decades, Operation Smile (OSI) has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children across the globe by providing safe high quality cleft lip and palate surgery. A unique career opportunity exists within the Department of Global Medical Education to build on Operations Smile’s legacy and advance Operation Smile’s vision of global surgical equity; every child can access high-quality cleft and essential surgical care close to home.

The Mission of the Department of Global Medical Education (GME) is to invest in the power of low- and middle-income health professionals to deliver high-quality cleft and essential pediatric surgical care in their local communities by providing educational opportunity.

The Manager, Medical Education will play a pivotal role in shaping Operation Smile’s educational investments in the health care workforce within Ethiopia. They will inform, adapt, and implement educational products, programs, and initiatives offered by Operation Smile’s GME technical teams to advance the capacity and capability of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, biomedical engineers, Comprehensive Care providers including nutrition, speech, and psychosocial providers in Ethiopia.

The Manager, Medical Education will establish, develop, and maintain key partnerships with professional, educational, and non-profit organizations in Ethiopia to uplift and advance the delivery of high-quality cleft and essential pediatric surgical care. They will collaborate with in-country teams to assess the educational needs, plan educational programming, and measure and evaluate the impact of educational investments. They will focus on Operation Smile’s hospital-based partnerships in Ethiopia and ensure they meet quality standards to provide for cleft patients.

The Manager, Medical Education will report directly to the Country Manager and work closely with the in-country team, the Regional Director, Regional Medical Officer, and with the Global Medical Education Department. The Manager, Medical Education will be closely supported by the Regional Global Medical Education team through periodic check-ins and regular round tables with other designated in-country Medical Education staff around the world.

Operation Smile acknowledges that while talent is universal, educational opportunity is not always equitable. The Manager, Medical Education will be central in developing and adapting Operation Smile’s high caliber educational offerings to the specific needs, strengths, and opportunities of local health care delivery environments.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Implementation of Educational Products, Programs, Initiatives, and Investments

• Work closely with GME technical teams and regional teams to understand the educational program offerings, standardize, optimize, and domesticate their implementation in the duty country.
•  Serve as a critical liaison between GME teams to understand, adapt, and adopt educational offerings to best serve the needs of each locality.
• Collaborate with regional and country leadership to develop multi-year GME strategy and plans that leverage local strengths and opportunities to create the greatest impact for the local health care workforce.
• Develop, implement, lead monitor and evaluate, and report implementation of educational programs.
• Identify and prioritize unmet medical educational needs and help pilot interventions.
• Plan and execute in-country education initiatives to include: Champion Accelerator Programming, Visiting Professorships, the Educational Components of Short Surgical Programs, Surgical Training Rotations, the Cleft Surgery Training Program, supporting residency programs in Operation Smile affiliated hospitals, allied health in-service trainings, trainings offered by GME for anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses, biomed techs, speech, nutrition, psychosocial and oral health providers.

Meetings

• Attend weekly GME department meetings, check-ins with regional GME staff and regularly scheduled round tables for in- country Education Coordinators.
• Attend meetings and events as prescribed by Regional VP, Country Manager, and in support of in-country team.
• Work closely with partner hospital management, federal ministry of health (FMOH), the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa (COSECSA), the Colleges of Anesthesiologists of East, Central, and Southern Africa and lead residency training programs and curriculum development.
• Lead, Plan, implement and follow up with fellowship program (Craniofacial, microsurgery, hand surgery, Pediatric anesthesiology and Speech therapy program)
• Build and maintain relationships with Health educators across Ethiopia to expand program offerings and accessibility.

Outcomes, Monitoring, and Evaluation

• Ensure that prescribed monitoring and evaluation processes for education and training programs are adhered to.
• Participate in continuous quality improvement of GME offerings and provide recommendations based on outcomes and impact.

Quality

• Work closely with the foundation’s medical advisory board and Operation Smile’s Medical Quality team to develop and maintain a clinical quality control checklist for cleft and plastic surgeries.
• Establish a clinical quality control platform for Operation Smile Ethiopia.
• Organize quarterly joint supportive supervisions to be implemented in partner hospitals.
• Ensure partner hospitals provide cleft patients with safe and quality surgeries and medical services.
• Provide training for foundation staff, volunteers, and partner hospital staff on Operation Smile’s global standards and guidelines for clinical practice.
• Lead routine hospital assessments, fact findings, and COVID-19 assessments in partner hospitals.
• Provide updates to the country manager on safe clinical practices.

Work experience

• Bachelor’s degree in any field, further education such as a Master’s degree would be advantageous.
• 7 years of Program Management experience in educational and/or health fields. National and/or international program management experience would be advantageous.
• Experience managing key partnerships and stakeholder relationships.
• Experience working in healthcare delivery and/or with healthcare professionals.
• Experience in handling quality assurance, patient safety, infection prevention, and/or risk management
• Experience working in low- and middle-income/ resource-limited settings.
• Global Health Systems knowledge and natural curiosity about improving outcomes.
• Knowledge of medical research regarding standards, best practices, and regulations
• Passion for improving health equity.

Skills

• Fluency in English as a second language.
• Strong project management and implementation skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills.
• Able to identify and coordinate educational needs among a wide variety of health care professionals and settings.
• Flexible team player who approaches challenges with a positive and solution-oriented outlook.
• Able to work in in diverse cultural contexts and see and bring out the best in others.

Other

• Willing to travel regionally.
• Willing to work in an innovative environment.
• Willing to lead with authenticity