Medical Editing/Library Intern

About MSF-USA | Doctors Without Borders

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian organization providing medical care to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from health care in over 70 countries. We were formed in France in 1971 as an association by a group of doctors and journalists to go to emergency situations and to treat patients with dignity while bearing witness independently of geopolitical boundaries. MSF is now a global movement of more than 25 MSF organizations, working in over 70 countries. We cooperate as an international, independent, medical humanitarian association that offers medical assistance to populations in distress, victims of natural or manmade disasters, and civilian victims of armed conflict, without discrimination and irrespective of race, religion, age, gender/sex, national or ethnic origin, color, disability, sexual orientation, genetic information, or political affiliation and provides assistance to the population in distress and intervenes worldwide. MSF staff also “bear witness” by speaking out about our work and what is experienced on the ground, not only to draw the world’s attention to crises, but to stand in solidarity with our patients and colleagues who are experiencing these emergencies firsthand.

We welcome candidates who bring a wide variety of \backgrounds and experiences to join us in working toward MSF’s social mission.

About the Programs Department

The Programs Department at MSF-USA supports the MSF Social Mission and consists of multiple units including advocacy, representation, and research arms of both MSF-USA and the international offices of MSF. Units served and/or supported by the Program Department include the Humanitarian Representation Team (HRT), Access Campaign, Epicentre, MSF Science Portal, MSF-USA domestic projects and other special projects related to medical and operational priorities of MSF.

About the Project 

Every year MSF conducts many hundreds of research studies, resulting in hundreds of peer-reviewed journal articles, medical conference presentations, and advocacy initiatives—all aimed at improving the quality of patient care and the policies that help shape this care.

The Scientific Editorial Director works to help increase the visibility of MSF research within the global health and medical aid communities. Currently the main initiative is to maintain and continue developing the MSF Science Portal—a new multimedia ‘one-stop-shop’ for MSF’s public research content—and to help raise awareness of this platform within and outside MSF. The Science Portal team consists of the Scientific Editorial Director, the Data Manager, plus two MSF-USA software engineers and a Product and Innovation expert who collaborate on this work.

The Medical Editing/Library Intern will work with the Science Portal Data Manager on keeping the platform updated regularly and on implementing data quality improvements across the site. The Intern may also participate in developing content for promoting the Portal on social media and on other outreach channels, and in helping to update the ‘medical issues’ pages of the MSF-USA website with Science Portal content. A graduate student or advanced undergraduate in epidemiology, global health, or medical library science, and with strong interests in medical humanitarian aid and global health publishing, would best suit this position.

Daily Activities & Responsibilities

• Compile a weekly list of new MSF-authored publications using PubMed, Google Scholar alerts, and other data sources, and update the Science Portal with this new content
• Support polishing/quality control of data in the Science Portal
• Participate in working with organizers of MSF Scientific Days conferences to collect and incorporate conference content into the Science Portal
• Support communications around raising awareness of the new platform
• Prepare overviews of Science Portal content on selected medical topics, aimed at general audiences of the MSF-USA website

Who You Are

• Commitment to the work of MSF-USA and Our Social Mission
• Interest in research within the global health and medical aid communities  and curiosity about Non-Profits
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office is required
• Must be pro-active, self-directed, detail-oriented and organized, as well as work independently in a virtual setting. Curious and creative approach to problem solving.
• Ability to interact professionally with multiple and diverse cross- departmental stakeholders

Background Preferred

Required 

• High level of proficiency in reading and understanding scientific literature in global health
• High level of proficiency in using bibliographic databases, especially PubMed
• Excellent research and writing skills
• Good understanding of scientific/medical publication practices
• Strong interest in medical/scientific publishing, humanitarian medicine, and research
• High level of proficiency with Microsoft Word and Excel

Preferred 

• College or graduate coursework on diseases and issues that most impact global health
• Experience maintaining an institutional repository in an academic or research setting
• Experience in developing content for social media

Expected to work in a hybrid  work environment with the ability to come into either the NYC office or regional hub (Washington, DC or Bay Area, California) a minimum of 2 times a week.

No phone calls or emails please. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted

Please note that neither relocation assistance nor visa sponsorship will be offered for this position

Application Deadline: September 15, 2023  Early applications are encouraged

Desired start date: October 10, 2023 or sooner if possible

Our staff works a hybrid schedule of two days a week in the office, three days remote. The required days are Tuesdays and Wednesdays from January to June and September to December.

In office work attendance during July and August is optional.

Your Safety Matters: Vaccination and booster against COVID-19 is a requirement at MSF - USA

Equal Employment Opportunity and Non-Discrimination

MSF-USA is committed to building a diverse, unbiased, and inclusive workforce. MSF-USA is an equal opportunity employer; we recruit, hire, train, promote, develop, and provide other conditions of employment without regard to a person’s gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, national origin, disability, marital status, pregnancy status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other differences consistent with applicable laws. This includes providing reasonable accommodation for disabilities, or religious beliefs and practices. Members of communities historically underrepresented in the Humanitarian Aid sector are encouraged to apply.

If you have a disability of some kind and are interested in applying for employment and need special accommodations to use our website to apply for a position, please contact Human Resources by emailing us: employment.msfusa@newyork.msf.org. 

Reasonable accommodation requests are considered on a case-by-case basis

Type

HQ  

Pay Class & Contract Type

Intern Nonexempt 

Compensation

$17 per hour

Working Time (Hours Per Week)

20