Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the Department of Computer Science of the University of Southern Maine, the Ghana Health Service, and the Grameen Foundation have formed a partnership for health information systems development.  To be known as the Ghana Health Information Systems Development (GHISD) Initiative, the project will develop, test, and scale up technology for health information management.  In particular, GHISD will test whether the adaptation of existing mobile phone technology can help address these problems by significantly easing information capture for community-based health care workers and providing a mechanism for communication between front-line health care workers and their supervisors. Little is known about the feasibility of utilizing mobile phone technology for reforming routine health information operations and even less is known about the use of information systems as a tool for reforming community health care worker efficiency and health service effectiveness. Filling these critical knowledge gaps, the project will test whether promising technology can strengthen the community-based health care services that are increasingly being implemented throughout the developing world.

The GHISD project seeks to hire a computer scientist who will be posted at the Dodowa Health Research Centre (DHRC) in the Dangbe West District of Ghana.  As one of the key members of a software development team, the computer scientist will be involved in the design, implementation, and testing of server-based health information systems software to support the use of mobile devices. This important position will form the collaborative link between research scientists at Columbia University, the University of Southern Maine and the Ghana Health Service.  The computer scientist will help identify significant use cases, identify problems in the deployment of software, and form the critical link between developers and users.  

QUALIFICATIONS

The Computer Scientist will possess the following qualifications:
    •    Bachelors Degree in Computer Science required
    •    Masters Degree in Computer Science preferred
    •    Advanced quantitative research skills in health, statistics, or population sciences; experience with health systems qualitative research desirable.
    •    Experience with health information applications in Africa desirable

SKILLS / EXPERIENCE

    •    Work experience in Africa desirable.
    •    Willingness to work and live in Ghana.
    •    Able to effectively communicate with stakeholders.
    •    Experience and interest in developing server side software systems that manage databases.  
    •    Experience working with a team of experts in various technical/managerial areas
    •    Fluency in English, knowledge of an African language desirable.

To apply: Contact:

James Phillips
School of Public Health
Columbia University
jfp2113 at columbia dot edu

Bruce MacLeod
U. of Southern Maine
macleod at usm dot maine dot edu

Ryan Kelsey
CCNMTL
ryan at columbia dot edu

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