Post-Graduate Fellowship at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
Call for applications
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington is accepting applications for the Winter 2009 cohort of the Post-Graduate Fellowship program.
The vision of IHME is to make available high-quality information on population health, its determinants, and the performance of health systems for all countries. We seek to achieve this directly, by catalyzing the work of others and by training researchers and policy makers. Our goal is to improve the health of the world’s populations by providing the best information.
The IHME Post-Graduate Fellowship Program provides a unique opportunity for individuals with graduate-level training and a strong quantitative background to conduct in-depth, methodological research on a variety of global health topics with the mentorship of faculty and senior researchers. Through research, training workshops and mentorship, the program is intended to enhance the analytical skills of future academics and professional leaders in the field of global health measurement and evaluation.
Post-Graduate Fellows will contribute directly to the overall research agenda of IHME and will be involved in all aspects of projects including analyzing and synthesizing existing data, catalyzing new data collection, building statistical models and validating new analytical methods, interpreting of findings, and reporting and disseminating results. Post-Graduate Fellows will be involved in research in one of five key areas of work: health outcomes, health services, resource inputs, evaluations and decision analytics. Examples of ongoing research projects in these areas are listed below.
Health outcomes:
- Estimation of child mortality levels for each country since 1970, forecasted 10 years into the future and updated every six months.
- Development and testing of new methods for estimating adult mortality and estimation of levels for each country.
- Assessment of major causes of death for each country every three years.
- Development of cross-country comparable methods for the estimation of healthy life expectancy, including methods to arrive at valuations of health states.
- Estimation of the global burden of disease for 1990 and 2005.
Health services:
- Measurement of the effective coverage of the twenty most important health-improving technologies by country every year, with the selection of priority interventions varying by regional epidemiology.
- Estimation of the quality of inpatient and outpatient care, including the development and refinement of standardized methods for undertaking risk-adjusted outcomes measurement.
Resource inputs:
- Annual assessment from 1990 to 2006 of resource flows for global health, including an estimation of the gap between commitment and disbursement.
- Systematic review of the quality of available data on public expenditures on health.
- Estimation of household health expenditures and proportion of households that incur catastrophic health payments.
- Landscape analysis of sources of data and methods for tracking human resources for health.
Decision Analytics:
- Measurement of the costs and benefits of health interventions, service delivery platforms and research and development in order to guide resource allocation decisions.
- Development of statistical models for missing data, internally consistent epidemiological parameter estimation and forecasting.
- Measurement of within- and across-country inequalities in coverage, health outcomes and health expenditures.
- Development of methods for local area estimation of health outcomes and coverage.
- Assessment of statistical methods for analyzing program effectiveness in non-randomized settings.
Evaluations:
- Development of guidelines for prospective impact evaluation.
- Impact evaluation of global health initiatives and strategies.
- Assessment of the performance of national health systems for countries with sufficient data.
- Evaluations of selected national health system reforms.
Post-Graduate Fellowships are appointed at IHME for one year with the possibility of renewal for a second year upon mutual agreement. The salary is $50,000 during the first year and subject to a UW merit driven increase during the second year. As a UW-paid employee you are eligible for an insurance benefits package that includes a choice among several medical and dental insurance plans, life insurance, and long-term disability. Please note that there is no retirement package included with this appointment.
The winter cohort begins on February 1 of each year.
Qualifications
In order to be considered for a Post-Graduate Fellowship, candidates must have the following:
- MD or PhD in the fields of quantitative methodology, statistics, health economics, health policy, demography, epidemiology, biostatistics, health services or other related field. Candidates with an MSc/MPH degree and at least three years of related research experience will also be considered.
- Strong quantitative background.
- Research experience, especially with data analysis and statistical methods.
- Proficiency in the English language.
When and how to apply
Applications must be received by September 1, 2008. Interviews with selected applicants will occur in September. Candidates will be notified in October and will begin the fellowship on February 1, 2009.
All application materials must be received at IHME by the deadlines stated.
Application requirements
One copy of the following non-returnable materials must be submitted to IHME.
- A cover letter. Please ensure that your cover letter includes:
- your full contact information (address, phone number and email),
- the name, affiliation and full contact information of three references,
- which of IHME’s five areas of work you are most interested in,
- how you became aware of the program.
- Curriculum Vitae or Resume
- Personal statement describing your interest in IHME and your professional and academic interests and objectives. Please explain how participation in this program would advance these objectives and contribute to the goal of IHME. Refer to the specific area of work that you are most interested in and discuss how your background qualifies you to contribute to IHME’s research agenda in this area. Please limit this statement to 1000 words.
- Three sealed letters of recommendation which address the quality and originality of your work, and your potential for an academic, research or policy career.
- Educational transcript from your highest degree attained. If your transcripts are not in English, please also provide a listing of all coursework with grade and credit hour information.
- One reprint of your most significant research paper, including a description of your role in the research. If the paper is not in English, please provide an English translation.
- Proof of proficiency in English for candidates whose native language is not English. Candidates who have completed a degree wholly in English can provide a copy of their degree as proof of proficiency. All other candidates should send a copy of their scores in an approved English Language Test. Details of the English tests accepted by IHME are as follows: (i) Princeton Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) – for the paper-based test, minimum overall score of at 600 including a minimum score of 5.0 in the test of written English; for the computer-based test, minimum overall score of at least 250 including a minimum score of 5.0 in the test of written English; for the internet-based test, a minimum overall score of at least 100 including a minimum score of 24 in the test of written English. (ii) British Council International English Language Testing System (IELTS) – a minimum score of 7.0 overall, including a minimum score of 7.0 in the written component.
Complete applications should be mailed to:
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
Attention: Post-Graduate Fellowship Program
2301 5th Avenue, Suite 600
Seattle, WA 98121
USA
For more information, please contact us by email at: pgf@healthmetricsandevaluation.org or visit http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org – No phone inquiries please.
