Guidelines Specialist

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is seeking a Guidelines Specialist. IDSA is a community of over 13,000 physicians, scientists and public health experts who specialize in infectious diseases. Our mission is to improve the health of individuals, communities, and society by promoting excellence in patient care, education, research, public health, and prevention relating to infectious diseases.

 

We are an innovative and dynamic professional association committed to the principles of inclusion, diversity, access, and equity. Our team embodies the following core values: 

 

Member-Centric, Excellence, Respect, Innovation, Teamwork and Trust

 

The Society is a great place to work! IDSA has a highly competitive total compensation package, offers flexible work, telework arrangements, and our organizational culture is highly rated by staff.  Our new office is located two blocks from the metro and has a free gym onsite.

 

The Guidelines Specialist is responsible for designing and conducting all technical and scientific aspects of systematic reviews of the literature, developing summaries of evidence using the GRADE approach, and producing clinical practice guidelines, endorsements, and other guidance products in infectious diseases. 

 

Operating in close collaboration with colleagues in a team-based environment, the Guidelines Specialist will work with multi-disciplinary teams of content experts, participate in the development of guidelines-related clinical tools and resources, algorithms, and other content to support the Clinical Affairs & Practice Guidelines Department.

The ideal candidate is a skilled guidelines expert who is highly organized, meticulous, and team player who works well with diverse stakeholders.

Qualifications

Characteristic Essential Responsibilities

• Serves as the primary staff liaison for expert physician panels developing systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines, providing project management oversight to ensure the project scope, objectives, timeline, and development process is consistent with IDSA policies and procedures.
• Educates and guides panel members through the guideline development process
• Designs and conducts systematic literature reviews including designing, creating and conducting literature searches, developing PRISMA flow diagrams, screening and reviewing abstracts and full-text articles, collating and interpreting the results of individual studies, risk of bias assessments of individual studies, and drafting quantitative and narrative evidence summaries describing the overall findings
• Designs and performs statistical (quantitative) data analyses (e.g., meta-analyses) and/or qualitative data syntheses; create, organize and maintain data extraction tables needed to support analyses and syntheses
• Guides panel members through the GRADE Evidence-to-Decision approach to recommendation development and help determine the final direction and strength of the recommendations based on the best available evidence
• Assesses the certainty of evidence using the GRADE approach and develop evidence profiles summarizing the results of the systematic review and certainty of evidence assessments
• Drafts the initial manuscript for and lead the editing process of clinical practice guidelines or guidance-related documents
• Helps define the scope of the guidelines and frame the clinical question into the PICO format
• Participates in dissemination, implementation and evaluation initiatives as needed, including the development of guidelines-related clinical tools and resources
• Monitors published literature for new research and other evidence relevant to IDSA guidelines topics and develop reports that can be used to evaluate a need for an update
• Responds to inquiries about guidelines development, dissemination, implementation and/or evaluation, or other related special projects as needed
• Attends guidelines-related conference calls and meetings, as appropriate
• Works independently in performance of job-specific responsibilities
• Builds strong working relationships with the IDSA team as well as members
• Performs other work-related duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s degree in public health, epidemiology, or other health sciences
• 3-5 years of professional experience with the GRADE approach, conducting systematic literature reviews, performing data analysis, and leading guideline panels responsible for developing clinical practice recommendations; prior experience in a medical specialty society is preferred, AHRQ, Cochrane, or similar
• Experience managing committees or work groups and facilitating consensus

Competencies: Knowledge, skills, and abilities

• Knowledge of best-practices in systematic review development including commonly used medical statistics, evidence-based guideline development, consensus-based guideline development methodologies, qualitative and quantitative research study design, and project management.
• Proficiency in the use of online (e.g., search engines such as MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library; software for guidelines development such as GRADEpro) and desktop (EndNote, Review Manager) programs, Windows environment, and Microsoft Office Suite
• Ability to remain highly organized, confident, and composed amidst shifting priorities and timelines and competing interests and viewpoints
• Ability to anticipate and be responsive to the needs of our very busy experts, and to be proactive in initiating and carrying out your work
• Creativity and a team focus with the ability to also work autonomously
• Excellent attention to detail and timely follow-through
• People-management skills including the ability to coach and support team members of diverse backgrounds and workstyles

Travel Requirements

• Must be able to travel up to 5% of the time
• IDWeek
• Annual Staff Retreat
• End of Year Celebration
• Professional conferences & meetings

EEO Statement:

The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, disability, socioeconomic status, marital or veteran status. We also welcome those of all abilities and make reasonable accommodations to support successful outcomes for our team members.