Palliative Care Expert (Category II) - Technical Assistance to the Syrian Ministry of Health

About the role

NTU International is recruiting a highly qualified Key Expert – Palliative Care Expert (Category II) for an EU-funded project supporting the Syrian Ministry of Health in strengthening its institutional capacity and governance. The assignment is based in Damascus, Syria, starts around 9 December 2026 and runs for about 14 months. The expert will strengthen oncology-related clinical protocols, medication safety, multidisciplinary coordination, clinical training and quality monitoring, while promoting patient-centred care and integrating palliative care into health services.

Required profile

• Master's degree in Public Health, Palliative Medicine, Nursing or a related clinical field; a medical degree with specialisation or advanced training in palliative care is strongly preferred.
• At least 10 years of clinical or technical experience in medical oncology, including substantial direct experience developing, harmonising or revising national or institutional systemic anti-cancer therapy protocols, especially chemotherapy protocols.
• Experience designing structured clinical training for oncology teams (physicians, pharmacists and nursing staff) on protocol implementation, treatment sequencing and toxicity management.
• Experience developing monitoring and evaluation tools to track treatment adherence, clinical outcomes and protocol-related safety indicators across multiple oncology centres.
• Experience convening multidisciplinary technical working groups across oncology, primary care and nursing directorates.
• Experience in the MENA region or in post-conflict or early-recovery health systems is a strong asset.
• Excellent written and spoken English is mandatory; working Arabic is a strong asset.

Required skills

• Familiarity with current international cancer treatment guidelines (e.g. WHO Essential Medicines List for cancer, NCCN, ESMO) and their adaptation to resource-constrained or fragile health systems.
• Proven experience strengthening pharmacovigilance and medication-safety systems for chemotherapy, including adverse-event reporting, dose-verification protocols and safe-handling procedures.
• Ability to design monitoring frameworks and quality indicators for palliative-care service delivery.
• Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills, with sensitivity to the ethical and psychosocial dimensions of end-of-life care.

Candidates apply by uploading their CV through LinkedIn or by sending it to the recruiter; only selected candidates will be contacted.