Senior Health Economist (WHC)

SUMMARY:
Background:

• Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Limited ("WHC") is a wholly-owned Company of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa) under its Faculty of Health Sciences. WHC provides Faculty with a legal framework within which to operate the research and other activities necessary to support its academic objectives
• In addition, WHC offers a range of products and services to Academics

• The SAMRC/WITS Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science PRICELESS SA is a research unit within the University of the Witwatersrand School of Public Health, Johannesburg
• It aims to enable smart decision-making in health through evidence-based research
• PRICELESS SA’s core business is to provide evidence to improve resource allocation and priority setting within the health system
• The unit’s broad research areas are Health Economics / Econometrics and Economic Evaluation, policy and policy evaluation and priority setting with the public and government stakeholders
• PRICELESS has a focus on obesity prevention, NCD’s and the commercial determinants of health

POSITION INFO:
Main purpose of the job:

• To lead research and analysis in line with the defined requirements and methodology and to compile findings into reports for integration into the allocated project and to support delivery against the research project plan/programme

• An opening exists for an energetic researcher who will be a crucial member of the PRICELESS team and will manage research using large datasets to evaluate the impact of existing or possible health policy interventions in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa
• The role will require strong communication skills, familiarity with applied economics and program evaluation research methods, familiarity with data manipulation and management, strong econometric and statistical training, and familiarity with statistical software packages (i.e. STATA and R)
• The post-holder will report to the Research Director and will be based at the School of Public Health, Parktown, Johannesburg

• Wits School of Public Health, Parktown, Johannesburg

• Lead and participate in scoping research and/or projects, define the hypothesis, methodology, approach, reporting requirements and plan by the agreed deadlines
• Develop the research practice and approach by reviewing the proposal, developing an approach and methodology that delivers the defined outcomes and meets the project budget, applying good practice, quality standards and lessons learnt from previous projects and engaging with the project team within deadlines
• Develop a project plan by defining the implementation steps required to deliver the outcomes, allocating time to complete the requirements, confirming alignment with the programme plan and drafting into a project plan in line with the agreed project management system within the agreed project deadlines and managing the completion of the project by deadline and within project budget as defined in the project plan and budget
• Manage stakeholder relationships by participating in project meetings, providing project feedback and progress as agreed, resolving queries and issues and maintaining a mutually respectful and responsive relationship on an ongoing basis
• Draft research and analysis papers and articles by summarising findings and insights, compiling relevant documents in an approved format, gaining approval and signoff and submitting or presenting to relevant stakeholders, journals and publications as required
• Manage all research and analysis documentation by filing and storing according to defined filing conventions within defined deadlines and on all research and analysis conducted
• Conduct quantitative data analysis by defining the analysis principles, developing analysis tools, capturing data into tools, tracking quality and completeness of data, evaluating data trends and results and applying against the research and analysis hypothesis within deadline
• Review data analysis by evaluating findings in line with the analysis principles, checking logic of analysis and making recommendations and / or developing findings based on the results from the review within agreed deadlines
• Develop research and analysis reports by developing a findings report template (if required) or applying the defined template, capturing the outputs into the report, supporting outputs with motivations and explanations and draft recommendations as per the defined standards and requirements and within the defined deadlines
• Schedule allocated Student supervision tasks by engaging with the student, agreeing deadlines for submissions, scheduling consultations and support sessions and implementing as per schedule
• Review Student’s submissions by reviewing submitted inputs, identifying areas of excellence and improvement, providing feedback and support resolving issues as required
• Provide teaching by receiving teaching requirements, preparing for engagements, teaching and evaluating integration of learning post engagements and as per programme and schedule
• Achieve defined post graduate submission targets by monitoring student engagement, addressing post graduate student challenges (where possible) and supporting students to complete requirements by submission deadlines

• PhD in Health Economics
• Must have published on Economic Evaluations in Academic journals

• 3 years working experience in health economics research environment

• Demonstrated experience in conducting economic evaluations
• Expertise with data analysis software
• Demonstrated writing and communication skills
• Ordered, systematic and analytical in approach to research
• Able to work under pressure and adhere to deadlines
• Self-motivated, able to work independently and work as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Assertive, confident and adaptable

• Only if you meet the minimum job requirements and experience as mentioned above, you may submit a detailed updated CV
• Please Apply Online and complete your registration via our website to enable and protect you as a candidate, and to accept the new POPIA terms and conditions
• This will then create your permanent profile with which you can apply for all jobs as advertised by AJ PERSONNEL
• However, you may remove your profile from AJ PERSONNEL when you are no longer in the job market
• Please take note that the applicants who do not adhere to the above criteria will not be considered for the respective position
• Wits Health Consortium will only respond to shortlisted candidates
• Candidates who have not been contacted within two weeks of the closing date can consider their applications to be unsuccessful
• Closing date: 1 July 2025
• Note: No CV will be accepted after the closing date

• WHC, in accordance with its Employment Equity goals and plan, will give preference to suitable applicants from designated groups as defined in the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 and subsequent amendments thereto
• AJ Personnel is only responsible for advertising and the response handling on behalf of their client Wits Health Consortium
• AJ Personnel does not have any salary or other information regarding the position