AI Fellow - Regulatory Policy, AI for Health

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PATH is a global nonprofit advancing health innovations for the people who need them most. With 50 years of experience, a global team of experts, and trusted partnerships spanning 70+ countries, PATH turns breakthroughs into better health for millions every single year.

PATH’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Initiative is our flagship technical team working across divisions to deliver best-in-class evaluation and implementation of AI in health, spanning model evaluation to product development and service innovation. We aim to use AI to address the world’s largest health inequities.

We’re looking for a researcher to help PATH understand how national regulators in sub-Saharan Africa can be more effectively supported to assess and oversee software and AI as medical devices, and to turn that understanding into practical capacity strengthening. You will research the current state of medical device regulatory systems across the region, support our Wellcome-funded work with the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) to operationalise a regulatory sandbox for AI-enabled mental health products, and work with the Centre of Excellence for Regulatory Science and Innovation in AI & Digital Health Technologies (CERSI-AI) at the University of Birmingham to develop a course that strengthens regulators’ understanding of software as a medical device (SaMD), AI as a medical device (AIaMD), and frontier AI in healthcare settings.

You will have the option of registering for a PhD at University College London (UCL), co-supervised by PATH and UCL, built from this work (assuming you don’t already have a PhD). The role is a strong fit for an early-career researcher with a grounding in regulation, governance, or quality management who wants to shape how AI-enabled health products are regulated in low- and middle-income countries.

Please apply by Monday, November 23, 2026 end of day for priority consideration.

Responsibilities

Design and Deliver Research on Regulatory Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (50%)

A core element of the role will be figuring out how to formally study the regulatory sandboxes we’re running and post-market oversight arrangements, document lessons learned, and prepare those insights for dissemination (both in the academic literature, to policymakers, and more broadly).

In parallel to the core task, this role will undertake additional research:

• An example of our current work: we’re mapping the current state of medical device regulation across sub-Saharan Africa, spanning which national regulatory authorities have a legal mandate and an operational pathway for medical devices, SaMD, and AIaMD; how they are staffed and resourced; where they sit against the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Benchmarking Tool; and how far they rely on reliance, recognition, and regional harmonisation mechanisms.

Future research could include:

• Desk research: Build on the aforementioned survey’s findings to examine the legislative reforms needed to drive national and continental action, and whether there is value in mental health-specific instruments being developed.
• Qualitative research: Engage with medical device leads in national regulatory authorities, as well as device manufacturers (and specifically those developing mental health-relevant tools), to better characterise challenges to progress and what interventions need to be prioritised.
• Quantitative/simulation: Leverage our ongoing portfolio of patient simulation and benchmarking projects to test certain assumptions that current legislation or regulatory approaches appear to take for granted.
• Thought leadership: Work with the technical experts in the team to think out loud about what frontier AI (general-purpose and generative models) means for existing medical device frameworks, quality management system requirements, and the practical limits of what a regulator can verify.

A key part of the role is ensuring we follow best practices for research. You will work with PATH’s Office of Research Affairs to keep our studies compliant with institutional and funder requirements, prepare protocols, and shepherd them through ethics review and the associated approvals (at PATH, and with the relevant national committees in the countries where we work), maintain the records that allow us to account for what was done and why, and contribute to the donor reports, read-outs, and progress updates that keep our funders and partners informed.

Convene and Support Delivery of Our Regulatory System Strengthening Programme (50%)

Across this part of the role, you will serve as the primary partner for PATH’s Chief AI Officer, working together to draw on the expertise of CERSI-AI, PATH’s internal specialists, as well as our wider network of consultants, to ensure that the right people are brought together at the right time, with the agenda agreed and the preparation done, so that the programme keeps moving and what is decided is written down and acted on. In practice that means:

• Support delivery of the sandbox. For example, work with the MCAZ technical secretariat to plan the co-design workshops for the regulatory sandbox, including identifying and briefing the experts who need to be in the room, helping prepare the pre-reads, and ensuring each session ends with recorded decisions and assigned actions.
• Develop and drive our capacity-strengthening programme. For example, drawing on CERSI-AI’s assessment of learning needs and direct feedback from the MCAZ team, work with the Chief AI Officer to bring in partners who can deliver relevant capacitation workshops, and gather feedback on whether the training is changing regulatory practice.
• Supporting oversight of partner contributions. For example, contribute to CERSI-AI’s work to develop the postgraduate certificate programme (PgCert) in regulation of AI-as-a-medical-device, while ensuring accountability for delivery timelines.
• Keep the consortium-owned written products moving. For example, create a workback plan for how we deliver the white paper and playbook for the sandbox that will be handed to the African Medicines Agency, write components where you can, and keep partners (internally and externally) accountable for their components.

Required skills and experience

• MSc or PhD (or equivalent) in law, public policy, regulatory science, public health, health policy, biomedical engineering, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience in a regulatory, quality, or compliance role.
• At least two years’ experience beyond your degree in the regulation, governance, or oversight of health products, whether in a national regulatory authority, a notified body or conformity assessment body, a medical device or digital health company, a consultancy, or a research organisation.
• Working knowledge of medical device regulation and the requirements that sit beneath it (e.g., quality management systems such as ISO 13485, risk management, software lifecycle processes, clinical evaluation, and post-market surveillance), and of how SaMD and AIaMD are treated by the International Medical Device Regulators Forum (IMDRF) and leading regulators such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• Research experience, with evidence of scientific or policy writing (e.g., publications, preprints, policy reports, or a thesis), and familiarity with qualitative and mixed methods (e.g., document and legal analysis, key informant interviews, comparative case studies).
• Excellent written and verbal communication for regulatory, policy, academic, and public audiences, including the ability to explain technical AI concepts to regulators and regulatory concepts to AI specialists.
• Ability to convene and facilitate meetings and workshops with senior stakeholders, to coordinate work and deadlines across complex, multi-stakeholder projects, and to work with government institutions with tact and discretion.
• Ability to handle sensitive material (e.g., product dossiers, mental health content) with care.
• Must have legal authorization to work in the United Kingdom.

Additional Desirable Qualifications/Experience

• Experience working with or within a national regulatory authority or regional body, ideally in sub-Saharan Africa or another low- or middle-income setting (e.g., the African Medicines Agency or the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation initiative).
• Familiarity with the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool and regulatory system maturity assessment, or with reliance and recognition pathways.
• Understanding of machine learning and large language models sufficient to engage with questions of validation, change control (e.g., predetermined change control plans), post-market monitoring, and the regulatory implications of general-purpose and generative models.
• Experience organising, developing, or delivering professional training or curricula for regulators, clinicians, or policy audiences.
• Experience of regulatory sandboxes or other experimental regulatory mechanisms (e.g., the MHRA’s AI Airlock).
• Experience in digital mental health, the evaluation of digital health products, or AI in health research.
• Experience working in international research consortia, including contributing to donor reports.

Location and travel

This is a full-time, hybrid position based in London. You’ll report to PATH’s Chief AI Officer, and, if you take up the PhD, you will be jointly supervised by leadership at PATH and UCL.

The role includes travel to partner sites and convenings, largely in sub-Saharan Africa, but also elsewhere as needed (around 10%–20% of time); think of it as an international trip every other month to spend time with our partners.

We know great candidates won’t always meet every listed qualification. Research shows that some groups, on average, are more likely to self-select out if they feel they don’t meet all requirements. If you’re excited about the role and think you’d be a good fit, we encourage you to apply.

PATH is a diverse nonprofit organization that creates a culture of collaboration and partnership. Learn more about the impact you can make globally here.

Please apply by Monday, November 23, 2026 end of day for priority consideration.