Senior Advisor

Position Objective

Provide services as a Senior Advisor in support of the overall functions of the Office of the Director (OD) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

• Provide recommendations and guidance to support NIH's goal to reduce/replace the use of animals in biomedical research, drug development, and regulatory testing.
• Develop policies that bridge the transition to non-human research models. Create strategies to implement policies, anticipate scientific/regulatory challenges, and bring the intra- and extra-mural communities into alignment with NIH's scientific goals involving novel alternative methods.
• Build community engagement to accelerate a transition toward human-relevant, non-animal methods.
• Work with the research community, regulatory scientists, and policymakers to identify barriers, develop solutions, and advance technologies that modernize science and improve public health outcomes.
• Provide strategic management planning and execution, business management, strategic planning, process improvement, metric assessment and measurement, acquisition planning, program management and governance.
• Analyze current processes; develop strategies to improve them.
• Provide leadership for and coordinate the overall strategic direction and planning for the program.
• Conduct and perform current state assessments; perform gap analysis; target ‘as-is’ state development and formulate the to-be state with associated execution strategy and roadmap project schedules.
• Provide analyses, evaluations, technical assessments, feedback and support in the planning and implementation of activities.
• Make recommendations on aspects of efficiency and continuous process improvement.
• Plan and implement solutions to address gaps and improve performance related to general management practices, management of scientific projects and programs.
• Provide advice on emerging issues affecting the Institute's research mandate. 1
• Provide advisory services and staff support to executives and senior managers on a full range of issues related to the support of all divisions and centers.
• Work with staff to build and guide the execution of individual project plans for prioritized initiatives; manage and track the status. 2
• Collaborate with staff on the alignment of any proposed changes to enhance the delivery of services and organizational development within the Institute.
• Review plans for future programs based on draft and final forms.
• Coordinate and design activities related to the development, approvals and launching of new research funding concepts that utilize government grant and contract funding mechanisms 4
• Identify gaps in existing scientific knowledge and provide recommendations for future research efforts. 3
• Work with staff to define a target state for the organization, processes, tools and technology required to meet the evolving needs of the Institute, including responsiveness to scientific and technological advances.
• Provide broad support of the Institute's agenda, including strategic and tactical activities, and executive-level interfacing.
• Determine solutions to overcome barriers, fill needs, respond to scientific opportunities and develop collaborative solutions.
• Provide input on complex inquiries.
• Perform research in support of strategic planning.
• Develop and coordinate a plan for outreach and communication about the program. 5
• Lead and/or attend and participate in working groups, meetings and conferences.
• Work with staff on the planning and promotion of community engagement.
• Develop methods and practices to evaluate the effectiveness of education, outreach and engagement programs.
• Develop novel approaches on communicating the program to the public in a health care setting.
• Design and lead quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods research studies on the factors influencing community engagement.
• Identify Institute-wide digital strategy and target audiences and translate the strategy into user-friendly interfaces that successfully present content, features and functionality appropriately for each audience.
• Translate biological science, clinical medicine, health promotion and related fields into language…