The Adopt-a-Scholar Program provides financial assistance to outstanding RSPH students who demonstrate exemplary leadership, community service involvement, academic success, and commitment to a career in public health. Below are the Adopt-a-Scholar Program Scholarships that are available:
Dr. Edgar Simard Scholar ($2500 Award):Preference for this award will be given to an outstanding student in Epidemiology.
Hardman Family Scholar ($2500 Award):Preference for this award will be given to an outstanding student passionate about working on environmental issues, with a focus on climate and health.
Mitchell Family Scholar ($2500 Award):Preference for this award will be given to an outstanding student who has a special interest in childhood food allergies, nutrition, or food insecurity.
Eligibility
Applicants for the Adopt-a-Scholar Program must be current MPH/MSPH students with a 3.5 GPA or higher.
Selected students will receive a scholarship to be applied towards their tuition.
How to Apply
Please use this link to complete your scholarship application by our deadline of Friday, March 5, 2021 at 11:59PM EST.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact:
I want to start this off by congratulating each and every one of you—the strength and resilience that you all have shown as public health students and practitioners during a pandemic is truly inspirational. Whether you’ve been volunteering, working REAL jobs with local institutions, or just completing your thesis and getting ready to join the workforce—you’re doing great.
I also vividly remember how overwhelming the job hunt is from my experience last year. Not only do you need to decide what sector you want to work in, you also need to make back-up plans, and back-up plans for the back-up plans. Yet, it’s also incredibly exciting—you’ll finally have the degree that you worked hard for and you can begin a meaningful, impactful career.
When I was at Rollins, I fell in love with public health preparedness. During my two years, I worked with local Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) units, the Georgia Department of Public Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on a variety of projects. Many of these experiences occurred during my time on the Student Outbreak and Response Team (SORT). During my tenure as 2019 SORT Co-President, I loved facilitating and maintaining connections with leadership from local organizations, strategizing with the executive board to achieve our goals, and coordinating members and professionals for regular meetings and events. Ultimately, it was one of my absolute favorite student experiences and one that I wanted to mirror in my professional endeavors.
Gathering all my experiences, I was able to start putting together the pieces of my career puzzle. I wanted to find something that would incorporate the aspects that I loved from SORT, make an impact, push me outside of my comfort zone, and allow me to grow and evolve as a professional. After talking with career services and the Rollins alumni that they connected me with, I felt fairly confident that consulting was the path for me.
Adaptability & the Job Search Process
However, the path wasn’t always straightforward. Since I didn’t realize this until my second year of graduate school, I felt like I was behind some of the other students in making those important networking connections and preparing for the consulting application process. I also didn’t realize the importance of referrals when applying to competitive firms. As such, I wasn’t having much luck until the end of April, when I was offered a position with a small firm primarily focused on emergency management. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, they ended up having a contract delayed and kept me at part-time through the summer, which was less than ideal for my budget and passion for doing meaningful work.
While at the time I was frustrated to be back on the job hunt mid-summer after graduating, I had begun to dip my toes in the consulting world and felt confident that it was the correct path—I just needed to find somewhere new to continue my journey. I reached back out to a few networking contacts, including an alumnus who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton. He put in a referral for me and I was interviewed, had my paperwork processed, and onboarded in less than a month. Since Booz Allen was originally one of my target firms, it felt like things were finally coming together.
Jumping into Work & Making Connections
On my first day, all I knew was that I was hired as a Senior Consultant on the health account, with a team that focused primarily on military health. I didn’t have any details on my project, and quickly realized that it was because I didn’t have a project yet! I was brought on as a “capability hire,” which loosely translates to “someone we know that we want and aligns with projects that we expect to have, but don’t necessarily have yet.” My first task was networking to find a project—which essentially meant talking with employees who have similar interests and seeing if they have any connections who might be onboarding for projects. As someone who loves connecting with others, I scheduled lots of meet and greets and quickly ended up joining a short-term project analyzing chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) policies. During this short-term project, I was still searching for something that would be longer-term and talked with colleagues supporting a wide array of federal agencies. Ultimately, I decided to join a team that supports a comprehensive medical readiness program for Department of Defense clients. As a public health subject-matter expert, I assist in the development of trainings and exercises related to public health, disaster mental health, patient decontamination, and more. Once COVID-19 travel restrictions lift, I will be traveling worldwide with my team to facilitate these trainings and exercises approximately 2 weeks per month. I’m keeping my fingers crossed to start that soon!
Ultimately, I really enjoy working in consulting. Even as the most junior member of my team and as one of the few without a military background, my input is valued and I have begun taking lead on some product development tasks. Additionally, the wide array of project options displayed to me during my project search demonstrated that I have control over my path—I had options within Booz Allen to branch more into policy, data science, emergency management, or continue to work on the COVID-19 response. There are also communities of practice that meet monthly and function similarly to student organizations—one even focuses on health security and biodefense! Also, my team rarely works over 45-hour weeks, which allows me to maintain a strong work-life balance. For my future at the firm, I’m planning to expand my expertise into emergency management by pursuing relevant certifications and attending conferences (which are covered by the firm’s flexible education benefit). I’m excited to continue growing and developing as a public health consultant!
Cassie Kersten, MPH (GLEPI 2020) is currently a Senior Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton. If any students are interested in connecting with Cassie, please contact her at Kersten_Cassandra [at] bah [dot] com.
Join the Conversation
Are you an alumni or current student in the Department of Epidemiology? Do you want to share your professional advice and experiences with a large audience of your peers? We want to hear from YOU! Consider becoming a contributing author for PROspective! To inquire, email your article idea directly to the editors at Confounder [at] emory [dot] edu!
Dr. Elizabeth Feliciano’s team at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research (DOR) in Oakland, CA is seeking a post-doctoral fellow (100% FTE for at least 2 years) to investigate the influence of energy balance on cancer survivorship. The fellow will work on NIH- and foundation-funded projects including:
investigating whether plant-based dietary patterns influence breast cancer outcomes;
examining if the metabolic syndrome or body composition are associated with expression levels of genes in immune and metabolic pathways in breast tumors;
examining whether muscle mass in colon cancer patients is related to functional status or chemotherapy toxicity; and
understanding the role of frailty as measured by muscle loss in outcomes of oncologic and other surgeries in older patients.
Responsibilities include conducting independent epidemiologic and biostatistical analysis, writing manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication and presentation of abstracts at scientific meetings and assisting in study conduct (e.g., design requirements for databases and data validation) and grant writing. The successful candidate will have methodological training in epidemiology and biostatistics, statistical programming skills, content knowledge in nutrition and/or cancer survivorship, strong writing skills, experience publishing peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts, and interest and experience in grant writing.
Essential Functions
Supports well-defined research with some supervision from the Research Scientist.
Prepares publications independently and drafts grant proposals for review by the Research Scientist.
Provides input on study design, develops analytic plans and interprets study results for the Research Scientist.
May work with other Research Scientists internal to DOR and scientists external to DOR.
May provide consultation and direction to programmer analysts with regard to data management and analysis.
Prepares and presents abstracts and papers at national scientific meetings and for peer-reviewed publications.
Seeks consultation from senior scientists for specific scientific and administrative issues.
Basic Qualifications
PhD or equivalent in, Epidemiology, Nutrition, Exercise Science or Public Health or related field.
Proven proficiency in cancer research methodology/research study design, hypothesis testing and quantitative data interpretation and application.
Proven proficiency in computer applications in a PC environment, including statistical software (eg., SAS/R.)
Master’s level coursework in biostatistics including survival analysis.
Knowledge of medical terminology.
Background/experience in methods to assess body composition and/or cancer epidemiology with an emphasis on energy balance or nutrition. Background in physical activity epidemiology within cancer will be considered.
Preference will be given to applicants with strong analytic and writing skills, including a demonstrated ability to publish papers and write successful grant proposals.
The Chemical Pollutant Assessment Division (CPAD) plans to recruit for epidemiologists to join a highly motivated, mission-focused team of health assessment scientists within the Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development at the Environmental Protection Agency. CPAD is responsible for developing the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) and Provisional Peer-Reviewed Toxicity Values (PPRTV) assessments, which are well-known throughout the national and international environmental regulatory community.
Be on the look-out for a posting on USAJobs in early spring 2021!
Recruitment Process
GET READY IN ADVANCE! Once the announcement is posted, the recruitment period is relatively short (10 working days), so you will want to have an account in USAJobs and set up an automated search to receive alerts about job postings. To do this, search for the job position, Epidemiologist, and then apply a filter to select jobs in the Environmental Protection Agency. You can then scroll to find jobs in ORD in CPAD. In addition to your CV, you will need to provide academic transcripts. Updating and gathering these materials in advance will help to make the application process go more smoothly. Here’s a tip. Your CV and transcripts will be reviewed for evidence supporting your responses to the questions in the online application.
Position Description
This position is for an epidemiologist (GS-0601) who is responsible for preparing or reviewing environmentally related health assessments for use by scientists and managers inside and outside the Agency and performing research to develop new assessment methods. The Division’s chemical pollutant priorities are generally determined by the needs of the EPA programs to meet their statutory requirements. Epidemiologists at this level are considered technical experts in their fields who work on multi-disciplinary teams to support assessment efforts. The development of these assessments typically involves the identification, analysis and synthesis of various kinds of scientific information related to stressors in the environment and the potential harm these may cause. This work can include a broad array of assessment products, such as evidence maps and systematic reviews of the literature that review and integrate evidence from a body of literature, and quantitative analyses of health or environmental assessment data. The results of these efforts are communicated through influential EPA reports, journal publications and at professional meetings.
Additional Information
Potential geographic locations: Cincinnati, OH, Washington, DC, and Research Triangle Park, NC
Educational and other requirements: completion of a degree program in epidemiology or environmental health sciences. Note that applicants must be US citizens.
Contact Information
For more information, please contact Barbara Glenn (glenn [dot] barbara [at] epa [dot] gov). She can answer questions and send you a link to an announcement when it is posted.
This webinar is sponsored by Emory University and the Region IV Public Health Training Center. During this webinar we will discuss racism and social determinants of health, and the role bias plays in healthcare decision making as well as its impact on adverse health outcomes. We will discuss how our backgrounds inform our perspectives and how we relate to colleagues and patients. We will also explore strategies that students and physicians can employ to mitigate bias.
By the end of the session, learners will be able to:
Describe social determinants of health
Describe the role of bias in medical decision making & impact on adverse health outcomes
Connect addressing bias to provision of equitable high-quality care
Recognize how our backgrounds inform our perspectives and how we relate to colleagues & patients
Explore strategies that students and physicians can employ to mitigate bias
How to Join
This is a live webinar scheduled for Monday, March 1, 2021 from 12pm-1:30pm
The Informatics data exchange epidemiologist provides informatics expertise to the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS) efforts, including electronic lab reporting (ELR), electronic case reporting (eCR), and integration efforts with local health departments not fully utilizing NEDSS. The informatics epi analyzes public health programmatic needs for electronic data exchange with NEDSS and identifies and implements appropriate technical solutions. Using (1) strong analysis and communication skills, (2) a comprehensive understanding of electronic disease surveillance systems, and (3) experience with Health Level 7 (HL7), Orion Health Rhapsody Integration Engine, secure transmission protocols (e.g. Secure File Transfer (SFT) and Secure Object Access Protocol (SOAP), this position will have primary responsibility to identify and resolve exceptions with electronic data exchange between NEDSS, data submitters, and data recipients. Additional responsibilities inclue updating the public health reportable condition mapping tables for the NEDSS, and evaluating and ensuring compliance with the local, state, and federal public health legal and regulatory environment.
Essential Job Functions
(40%) Work with local health department (LHD) program staff, private and public laboratories, healthcare providers, EHR system vendors, and submitter systems, to inform, educate and ensure that there is a thorough understanding of the business processes and informatics needs. Contribute informatics expertise to systems software configuration and modifications.
(25%) Investigate and resolve exceptions in the receipt, processing, or transmission of data of public health significance between NEDSS and its partners. Identify enhancements and improvements in the electronic data exchange pathways to assure secure, sustainable, and complete data exchange; and develop and execute plans to implement these modifications.
(20%) Work in an application support role to include: system modification and upgrade planning, data extractions, and tasks that successfully implement, document and validate modifications and upgrades. Collaborate with the NEDSS technical team and the Information technology team, as needed, to maintain HIPAA-compliant secure transport, and Orion Health Rhapsody Integration Engine. Evaluate and ensure compliance with the local, state, and federal public health legal and regulatory environment. Participate in the analysis and development of a product roadmap of ELR/eCR/NEDSS, including the collection of user requirements, documentation, review, and validation of functional specification documents.
(10%) Participate in quarterly meetings with the CDC EDX Program team, providing expert evaluation and analysis, present written and verbal reports and analysis of complex technology issues. Attend professional conferences and training classes, as appropriate, to maintain and enhance the current level of service to NEDSS stakeholders.
(5%) Other duties as assigned include but are not limited to actively participating and/or serving in a supporting role to meet the agency’s obligation for disaster response and/or recovery of Continuity of Operations (COOP) activation. Such participation may require an alternative shift pattern assignment and/or location.
Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities
Knowledge
Knowledge of the principles and methods of informatics, epidemiology, and related biostatistics; of infectious diseases, and of how causes of disease affect epidemiologic practices.
Knowledge of LOINC, SNOMED, ICD and other control vocabularies Knowledge of software tools that support public health informatics, public health data acquisition, entry, abstraction, management, analysis, and reporting
Knowledge of medical terminology
Skills
Skill in HL7 development and analysis such as using 7-edits, HL7 soup
Skill in ensuring the utilization of interoperable data standards for storage and transmission
Skill in HL7 analysis for ELR, entry, abstraction, management, analysis, and reporting.
Skill in informatics planning and records management of complex data/databases, analyzing and solving problems
Skill in organizing resources and establishing priorities
Abilities
Ability to create informatics processes to maintain electronic documents, including documented versions, dissemination methods, and relevant
Ability to use informatics knowledge management tools to organize, manipulate, and maintain complex data files
Ability to create, maintain, and manipulate large, complex relational databases
Ability to use HL7 and Orion Rhapsody for the exchange, integration, sharing, and retrieval of electronic health information
Ability to work effectively with regional and local health department personnel, private physicians, hospital staff and laboratory staff to facilitate disease surveillance
Ability to train external and internal partners
Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing
Ability to design and implement systems necessary to collect, maintain, and analyze data
Ability to apply technical means (security) to ensure the integrity and protection of confidential information in electronic files and computer systems
Ability to conduct short-range and long-range project planning studies
How to Apply
Click here to read more about this position and apply online!
Join the Department of Epidemiology for the ILE information session on February 16th at 12:05PM to hear more about the requirements for the ILE and how to decide whether a thesis or capstone is the right choice for you!
See your Outlook inbox or the EPI Department calendar for the zoom meeting information!
Join Dr. Ashley Naimi starting this Friday, February 19th at 10:50am to 12:00pm for the first Machine Learning Book Club meeting!
The book club will meet every other Friday at 10:50am. We will be studying The Hundred Page Machine Learning Book, available (free) here. This club will be introductory: no experience with machine learning is necessary. A basic understanding of regression will help.
This Emory Outbreak Response Team, which is part of the Emory COVID Response Collaborative (ECRC) and led by Dr. Jodie Guest, provides COVID-19 resources to communities in Georgia that are disproportionally affected by the pandemic. In the past, the ORT’s work has ranged from organizing and running COVID-19 testing events to delivering masks to students through a school meal delivery program.
This work is highly collaborative and dynamic. We are therefore seeking students who are flexible, professional, and comfortable working with a range of community partners and participants.
Qualifications
Applicant must be a 1st-year student in the 2-year MPH/MSPH program
Applicant must be a student in the Epidemiology Department
Basic Position Description
Participate in COVID-19 testing events
Provide COVID-19 public health guidance and resources to Georgia communities
Engage in weekly meetings with ORT members and faculty
Conduct COVID-19 and ORT data surveillance and monitoring
Participate or lead in projects related to ORT as the needs arise
Time Commitment
During the spring semester, we anticipate there will be at least 2 COVID-19 testing events occurring in March and April, each requiring 8 hours of work.
Weekly meetings require on average 1-2 hours per week.
Non-testing event work varies as projects arise and work is necessary to complete.
During the summer, there will be an increase in demand for participation that requires at least 24 hours per week.
How to Apply
Click here to read more about this opportunity and apply online!
Please submit your application no later than February 22nd at 11:59 pm
The Office of Career Development hosts two annual Career Fairs where public health and healthcare organizations network with bright and promising Rollins students and alumni. The event provides an exciting atmosphere to learn of opportunities, hiring practices, desired skill sets, and future needs.
We are excited to offer our Spring Career Fair in a highly interactive, virtual format.
Join us on Friday, February 26th from 11 am- 4 pm EST.
How to Register
Registration for the career fair opens on February 17th
EGDRC Seminar: Lynn Aboue-Jaoudé January 14, 2025 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Seminar Series; tinyurl.com…
Online Location: https://tinyurl.com/Lynn-Abou-JaoudeEvent Type: Seminar SeriesSeries: Health System Users in Vulnerable Situations: Normative Experiences and “New Ways of Life”Speaker: Lynn Abou-JaoudéContact Name: Wendy GillContact Email: wggill@emory.eduLink: https://tinyurl.com/Lynn-Abou-JaoudeDr. Lynn Abou-Jaoudé studies sociocultural challenges in healthcare experiences, focusing on qualitative research and diabetes prevention at the University of Lille’s LUMEN lab.
GCDTR Seminar: Erin Ferranti, PhD, MPH, RN January 21, 2025 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Seminar Series; tinyurl.com…
Online Location: https://tinyurl.com/ErinFerrantiEvent Type: Seminar SeriesSeries: Cardiometabolic Risk and Resource Connection in Maternal HealthSpeaker: Erin Ferranti, PhD, MPH, RNContact Name: Wendy GillContact Email: wggill@emory.eduRoom Location: RRR_R809Link: https://tinyurl.com/ErinFerrantiDr. Erin Ferranti, Emory Assistant Professor, researches women’s cardiometabolic disease prevention, health inequities, maternal morbidity, farmworker health, diabetes, and hypertension using biomarkers for early risk identification.
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