Head of Medical Scientific Affairs (ID2121)

Head of Medical Scientific Affairs (ID2121)

The AO is a medically guided, not-for-profit organization, a global network of surgeons, and the world's leading education, innovation, and research organization specializing in the surgical treatment of trauma and musculoskeletal disorders.

We are home to people from all over the world, from different backgrounds, with diverse talents and specialist areas.

What binds us together is our passion for excellence, our dedication to our mission of improving patient care, and our understanding that we are stronger together: we are one AO.

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Short Description

The Head of Medical Scientific Affairs provides strategic and scientific leadership for AO's clinical evidence generation ecosystem and ensures that clinical research investments translate into meaningful improvements in patient care.

He/she serves as a trusted scientific advisor to AO leadership, governance committees, and clinical divisions and represents AO ITC in internal and external scientific initiatives, partnerships, and expert forums.

The role is accountable for developing a high‑impact portfolio of clinical studies across Trauma, CMF, Spine, TC, Veterinary, and related orthopedic disciplines, ensuring optimal allocation of resources, scientific excellence, and supporting effective translation of evidence into clinical practice.

The position serves as a key interface between surgeons, researchers, clinical operations, governance bodies, industry partners, and educational stakeholders to maximize the generation, dissemination, and adoption of evidence‑based innovations within the AO ecosystem.

• Main Responsibilities
• Lead the Medical Scientific Affairs team
• Provide scientific, strategic and operational leadership to the Medical Scientific Affairs team with two direct reports, fostering a high-performing, collaborative, and service-oriented culture.
• Define team objectives, priorities, and performance expectations aligned with the organization's strategy and portfolio needs.
• Recruit, develop, coach, and evaluate team members to support professional growth, ensuring the appropriate scientific, clinical, and operational competencies are in place.
• Close collaboration with Clinical Operations in the resource planning and allocation across studies, programs, and stakeholder requests to meet organizational objectives.
• Build effective collaboration between surgeons, governance bodies, Clinical Operations, NCR, AO Education Institute, AO Research Institute, educators, and external partners to advance the Clinical Research activities in the AO.
• Drive continuous improvement of Medical Scientific Affairs processes, standards, and capabilities to enhance quality, efficiency, and impact and establish a culture of scientific excellence, integrity, compliance, and evidence-based decision-making across all Medical Scientific Affairs activities.
• Lead the Clinical Science Advisory Commission (CSAC).
• Lead the AO ITC Clinical Research Fellowship Program.
• Support the AO PEER program.
• Clinical Study Design & Scientific Support
• Develop clinical study protocols addressing important knowledge gaps and clinical needs in close collaboration with surgeons, industry partners, governance bodies and Network Clinical Research and Clinical Operations.
• Review and provide medical-scientific assessment of adverse events and safety-related findings throughout study conduct.
• Provide expert advice on medical and scientific questions arising during study execution and support preparation of scientific publications, clinical reports, congress abstracts, and other dissemination activities.
• Close collaborate with Clinical Operations in study planning, implementation, and monitoring activities.
• Support interpretation of results in close collaboration with surgeons, investigators, governance bodies, and Clinical Operations.
• Drive excellence in scientific publication strategies, congress presentations, and dissemination activities.
• Clinical Research Portfolio Strategy
• Lead scientific discussions regarding future evidence needs.
• Develop and maintain a strategic clinical research portfolio in collaboration with the Research Commissions and internal stakeholders which is aligned with AO's mission and priorities.
• Establish and continuously refine portfolio prioritization frameworks balancing available research funding, knowledge gaps, patient impact, scientific significance, feasibility, cost-effectiveness and translational potential and risk‑benefit considerations in collaboration with the Research Commissions and internal stakeholders.
• Monitor portfolio performance with regards to strategic objectives and adapt research priorities based on emerging evidence, and clinical needs.
• Provide scientific leadership across the full research lifecycle, ensuring methodological rigor, clinical relevance, regulatory compliance, and ethical conduct.
• Collaborate with Clinical Operations in establishing a grant acquisition strategy and strengthen industry partnerships and drive grant acquisition.
• Support Knowledge Translation activities to ensure clinical evidence generated by AO is effectively translated into education, clinical guidelines, decision support tools, and clinical practice.
• Collaborate closely with Clinical Operations, NCR, AO Education, AO Clinical Divisions, community development and governance bodies to facilitate adoption of new evidence.
• Lead implementation of health economic and outcomes research initiatives.
• Main Requirements
• Professional & Technical Skills
• Advanced expertise in clinical research methodology.
• Strong understanding of orthopedic clinical practice and research.
• Advanced expertise in clinical study design, statistical principles, and evidence synthesis.
• Experience in designing and executing industry-sponsored clinical studies as a CRO.
• Experience in health economic evaluation and outcomes research.
• Excellent scientific grant and publication writing and presentation skills.
• Sound understanding of regulatory requirements, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), and clinical research governance.

Education & Qualifications

• Medical Degree (MD) required.
• Ph D, MSc, or equivalent advanced scientific qualification highly desirable.
• Formal training in clinical epidemiology, research methodology, biostatistics, or related disciplines is advantageous.
• Professional Experience
• Minimum 10 years of experience in clinical research within orthopedics, trauma, spine, CMF, sports medicine, or related disciplines.
• Experience in multicenter clinical studies from concept generation to publication and dissemination.
• Experience in developing and managing research portfolios and clinical research strategies.
• Strong track record of peer‑reviewed scientific publications and grant acquisition.
• Experience in line management and leading interdisciplinary and cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with surgeons and international clinical research networks.
• CRO services are of advantage.

Benefits

• An interesting and varied job in an exciting and innovative organization
• The opportunity to be part of a highly committed international team
• Modern infrastructure
• High degree of flexibility regarding working hours and location (depending on operational requirements)
• Generous package of social benefits, including supplementary vacation days and pension scheme contributions
• Internal skills training opportunities and support for continued education
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