Helium Health is one of Africa's leading digital health technology companies, working at the intersection of clinical care, data science, and innovation. Over the last decade, Helium has developed a rare depth of structured health information across diverse populations and care settings.We are launching a focused
research publication initiative
to produce a series of high-quality, peer-reviewed studies in leading journals. These publications will showcase novel insights at the intersection of health data, AI, and global health equity.We are seeking a
Independent Research Fellow
to support the end-to-end execution of this publication program. In this role, you will work directly with the PI/CEO (first author) to:
- Coordinate all aspects of the research pipeline.
- Prepare and analyze data.
- Draft, edit, and format manuscripts.
- Manage collaborators and journal submissions.
This is a unique opportunity to gain
co-authorship on multiple high-impact papers
, while contributing to work that will shape the global conversation on bias, fairness, and representation in health AI.
This is a Full-Time, 18-24 Month Contract (with option to extend)
Responsibilities:
- Pipeline coordination: Track and manage timelines for 6+ manuscripts across design, analysis, drafting, and submission.
- Data preparation & analysis: Clean, structure, and run statistical/ML analyses under PI direction.
- Manuscript drafting: Contribute to literature reviews, methods, results sections, figures, and references.
- Collaboration: Liaise with academic partners (UCSF, LSHTM, Imperial, etc.) and manage correspondence.
- Compliance: Support IRB exemption filings and ensure GDPR/NDPR/HIPAA-compliant governance.
- Submission management: Prepare manuscripts for target journals (JAMIA, npj Digital Medicine, BMJ Health Informatics, The Lancet Digital Health) and coordinate revisions
Requirements
- Master's or PhD in Health Informatics, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Biomedical Data Science, or related field.
- Publication experience (co-author on peer-reviewed papers; understands the submission/revision process).
- Strong technical skills in R/Python, statistics, and longitudinal health data.
- Highly organized project manager able to keep multiple manuscripts moving in parallel.
- Strong academic writing ability (clear, precise, structured).
- Comfortable being supporting author enabling the PI/CEO to serve as first author while gaining co-authorship on multiple publications.
- Mission-driven, with interest in health equity and AI
Benefits
- Unique research opportunity: Contribute to studies based on a rare health data resource with global relevance.
- Guaranteed publications: Co-authorship on multiple peer-reviewed papers in 18-24 months.
- Professional growth: Beyond publications, you'll gain mentorship from senior academics, visibility in global health networks, opportunities to present at conferences, and hands-on experience with data governance at scale.
- Career development: This role is designed as an intensive publishing sprint that positions you for next steps in academia (faculty track), industry research, or senior data science roles.
- Future opportunities: While the role is fixed-term, successful candidates may transition into permanent positions at Helium or within its academic/industry partnerships.
- Team environment: You will work directly with the PI/CEO (first author) and coordinate with a small cross-functional team (data engineers, statisticians, and external academic collaborators).
- Impact: Advance pioneering work at the intersection of AI, healthcare, and equity
