Advisor, Digital Health- Dehradun

Jhpiego is an international, non-profit health organization and an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University, dedicated to improving the health of women and families in developing countries. For over 50 years, it has focused on providing high-quality, low-cost health care solutions, training health workers, and strengthening health systems.

 Jhpiego has been working in India since the 1980s in close partnership with national and state governments. With deep technical expertise and strong on-the-ground execution, Jhpiego helps design, test, and scale practical solutions and innovations that fit real-world systems across 11 thematic domains (Maternal and Newborn Health, Reproductive Health, Nutrition, Immunization, Comprehensive Primary Health Care, Human Resources for Health, TB and Infectious Diseases, Global Health Security, Women's Cancers, Non-Communicable Diseases, Digital Health).

Jhpiego, in collaboration with the Government of Uttarakhand, the Gates Foundation and the ALVL Foundation, is supporting strengthening Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) in Uttarakhand. The initiative combines district-level operational strengthening in Almora and Pauri Garhwal with a statewide digital health architecture and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) alignment workstream. The digital health workstream will help NHM Uttarakhand move from fragmented applications and data flows toward an integrated, interoperable and scalable ecosystem.

The Digital Health Advisor will provide technical leadership for the statewide digital landscape assessment and development of an ABDM-aligned digital health architecture and costed implementation roadmap. The role will serve as the principal in-state bridge among NHM Uttarakhand, Jhpiego's Digital Innovations Unit and CPHC PMU in Uttarakhand. The digital health advisor will report to Associate Director – Digital Health and Data Science and will work in coordination with PMU lead.

3.1 Technical leadership and workstream management

• Lead the digital health architecture workstream, including annual and quarterly planning, sequencing, risk management, and timely completion of agreed deliverables.
• Establish a consultative design process with NHM, health directorates, state and district programme teams, IT agencies, facilities, frontline workers and other technical partners.
• Initiate the establishment of digital health steering/TWG or similar committees with clear roles and responsibilities for development and implementation of the digital health architecture and roadmap.

3.2 Digital landscape assessment and system discovery

• Design and execute a comprehensive assessment of digital health applications, registries, portals, dashboards, data exchanges, infrastructure, connectivity, hosting, devices, human resources, governance arrangements and vendor dependencies across relevant levels of care.
• Map priority clinical, public-health and administrative workflows, including patient registration, longitudinal records, diagnostics, NCD management, referral and counter-referral, clinical decision support, supply chains and performance monitoring.
• Document system ownership, users, data sources, interfaces, standards, duplication, data-quality constraints, cybersecurity and privacy risks, interoperability gaps, total cost considerations and operational pain points.
• Assess ABDM readiness and alignment, including applicable registries, identifiers, consent-based health information exchange and national interoperability requirements.
• Conduct field visits and structured consultations in Dehradun and selected districts/facilities, including Almora and Pauri Garhwal, to validate findings with end users and decision-makers.

3.3 Future-state enterprise architecture and roadmap

• Co-design a vendor-neutral, modular and scalable future-state digital health architecture covering data, application, integration, technology, security and governance layers.
• Define target-state information flows, master data and registries, API and interoperability patterns, identity and access management, consent, auditability, hosting and disaster-recovery considerations.
• Recommend standards and terminology appropriate to each use case, such as ABDM specifications, FHIR R4, HL7, SNOMED CT, LOINC, ICD and OpenHIE patterns, without creating unnecessary technology lock-in.
• Develop a phased, costed implementation roadmap that identifies dependencies, quick wins, foundational capabilities, implementation waves, resource requirements, governance actions, risks and measurable success indicators.
• Ensure architecture choices support low-connectivity settings, offline workflows, multilingual and accessible interfaces, frontline usability, continuity of care and the realities of Uttarakhand's hilly geography.

3.4 Prioritization, proof of concept and implementation planning

• Facilitate transparent prioritization of digital use cases based on public-health value, user need, feasibility, architecture fit, readiness, affordability and scale potential.
• Develop concept and implementation designs for selected proofs of concept, which may include ABDM-enabled patient workflows, digital NCD management, diagnostics and point-of-care device integration, referral tracking, telehealth, risk stratification and clinical decision support.
• Define PoC success criteria, data requirements, safeguards, test plans, user-acceptance methods, learning questions and scale/no-scale decision points in collaboration with government and MERL colleagues.
• Provide technical oversight during configuration, integration, testing and validation; ensure that pilots contribute reusable components and evidence for statewide decisions rather than operating as isolated solutions.
• Prepare or quality-assure business and functional requirements, technical specifications, statements of work, bills of quantities, evaluation criteria, service levels and other inputs for government procurement and requests for proposal.
• Support transparent technical evaluation and due diligence of proposed products and vendors, including architecture, interoperability, security, scalability, implementation capacity, licensing, source-code/escrow arrangements where relevant, exit provisions and total cost of ownership.
• Develop implementation governance, acceptance-testing, change-control, performance-management and vendor-management frameworks that protect government ownership and minimize lock-in.
• For AI-enabled use cases, ensure clear intended use, human oversight, representative data, validation, explainability appropriate to risk, bias monitoring, performance monitoring and safe escalation or fallback pathways.

3.7 Stakeholder engagement, capacity strengthening and institutionalization

• Serve as Jhpiego's day-to-day technical focal point for digital health with designated NHM Uttarakhand counterparts and contribute to Steering Committee, Technical Working Group and PMU reviews.
• Facilitate architecture workshops, design sessions and technical consultations, presenting complex choices in clear language and documenting decisions and action points.
• Assess digital capability gaps and develop role-based capacity-building, change-management and adoption plans for state, district, facility and frontline teams.
• Mentor government and project counterparts, transfer tools and documentation, and support progressive institutionalization of digital governance and architecture functions within state systems.
• Coordinate closely with CPHC, diagnostics, workforce, MERL, procurement, finance and knowledge-management teams so that digital investments reinforce service delivery and health outcomes.

• Master's degree in digital health, health informatics, public health, computer science, information systems, engineering, health systems, business administration or a related discipline. A relevant bachelor's degree with substantial directly applicable experience may be considered.
• At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in digital health, health information systems, enterprise architecture, health technology or large-scale digital transformation; experience requirements may be calibrated to Jhpiego's position grading framework.
• Demonstrated experience leading digital landscape assessments, requirements discovery and development of enterprise or solution architectures and implementation roadmaps.
• Substantial experience working with government health systems in India at state or national level, including facilitation with senior officials, programme teams, IT agencies and implementation partners.
• Hands-on understanding of ABDM architecture and standards, health information exchange, registries, consent-based data sharing, APIs and health data interoperability.
• Experience producing procurement-quality functional and technical specifications, RFPs/SOWs, evaluation frameworks and vendor-management mechanisms.

Skills and Competencies

• Familiarity with ABDM framework and Health Data Management Policy, applicable sandbox and production requirements, and national digital-health standards.
• Working knowledge of HL7 FHIR R4, India-specific FHIR implementation guidance, APIs, clinical terminologies, standard identifiers and structured clinical artefacts.
• Experience conducting stakeholder interviews, document reviews, system demonstrations, workflow observations and facility assessments.
• Strong analytical ability to identify duplication, fragmented workflows, manual reconciliation, data-quality issues, system dependencies and operational bottlenecks.
• Sound understanding of India’s public-health system and the roles of the national, state, district, block and facility levels.
• Familiarity with Comprehensive Primary Health Care and service delivery through Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, PHCs, CHCs, district hospitals and referral facilities.
• Working knowledge of cloud and hybrid infrastructure, cybersecurity, identity and access management, backup/disaster recovery, monitoring and service management.
• Understanding of the Digital Personal Data Protection framework, health data governance, privacy and security requirements applicable in India.
• Demonstrated ability to work with state and district government departments and maintain effective working relationships with senior officials, programme managers and technical teams.
• Strong organisational skills, attention to detail and ability to manage multiple stakeholders and deliverables within agreed timelines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts to nontechnical stakeholders.