Applied Epidemiology Fellowship, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists

The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) has reopened the Class XIX Applied Epidemiology Fellowship (AEF) program application to accept new applications for placements beginning summer 2021. The new application deadline is Friday, July 23, 2021. The goal of AEF is to provide a high quality on-the-job training experience in applied epidemiology for recent graduates and prepare fellows for long-term career placement at the state and local level. Based on their interests and available positions, fellows are matched to a state or local health agency for two years under the guidance of two experienced mentors.

During their assignment, fellows develop a set of core competency skills related to epidemiologic methods, communication skills, public health practice and policy.

How to Apply
To apply for AEF Class XIX consideration, please view and complete the online application at https://cste.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3dDgpn6PEno7ovY by Friday, July 23, 2021.
 
For more information, including eligibility requirements, visit www.cstefellows.org. If you have questions about the fellowship application, please contact CSTE via email at aef [at] cste [dot] org or call the National Office at 770-458-3811. 

Director of the Office of Health Data and Research, Mississippi State Department of Health

The Mississippi Department of Health is accepting applications for the Director of the Office of Health Data and Research. The Office of Health Data and Research is responsible for epidemiological and biostatistical support for the non-communicable disease programs. The programs include Preventive Health, Maternal and Child Health, Women’s Health, Rural Health, Behavioral Health, and several population surveillance programs. Office of Health Data and Research staff are physically located in three offices in the metro-Jackson area. A few of the responsibilities of position include:

• Providing leadership for the Office of Health Data and Research, collaborating with other
  directors at MSDH, and managing all aspects of the program by administering policy,
  procedures, and programming initiatives.
• Designing and executing epidemiology and biostatistical activities; formulating,
  recommending, and implementing changes.
• Developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based and/or evidence-informed
  strategies to address public health needs in the state of Mississippi.
• Serving as Principal Investigator for several population surveillance programs.
• Fostering collaborative relationships with internal and external partners to support
  programming.

Please follow this link to view the job requirement for Research Biostatistician, Chief on the Mississippi State Personnel Board website. To apply send your resume to recruitment [at] msdh [dot] ms [dot] gov with HDR Director in the subject line.
Preference will be given to applicants with a doctoral degree. Preference will also be given to applicants with experience in the following areas: public health core competencies, grant writing and grant management principles, supervision, and effective communication skills.

MSDH also will be hiring additional Epidemiologists I, II, and III to support work in several different program areas such as injury prevention, substance use prevention, maternal and child health, and healthy aging.

MSDH is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Bioinformatics Fellow, CDC

Biologist (Bioinformatician)

Deputy Director of Infectious Diseases, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Division of HIV Prevention, Laboratory Branch, Molecular Epidemiology and Bioinformatics Team

Level of responsibility

Research assignment

The fellow will assist in the development and deployment of comprehensive, expandable, and secure software systems that integrate multiple bioinformatics and analytical tools to improve integration, analysis, and interpretation of phylogenetic, epidemiologic, and clinical treatment data for the detection of HIV transmission clusters. The fellow will apply these new methods to new and existing datasets from various studies in the branch, DHAP, and across CDC. The HIV-specific datasets include EpiAID and outbreak investigations, cases of public health importance (COPHIs), cluster investigations, and the National Molecular HIV Surveillance system in collaboration with HICSB. This project will automate analysis of the national HIV surveillance data to facilitate early recognition of transmission networks, improve targeting of prevention strategies, and modeling and prediction of local and national epidemics. The new tools will also be applied to studies of transmission networks of other existing or emerging pathogens or epidemiologic investigations of any disease. Specific duties and responsibilities include:

1. Use metadata available from various studies and surveillance databases across NCHHSTP and CDC to assist with evaluation and validation of the platforms.
2. Help develop dashboards and automated reports for easy visualization of national HIV surveillance data
3. Perform data analyses to help identify meaningful transmission cluster characteristics and trends in subgroups to provide actionable public health intelligence to federal, state and local partners
4. Evaluate and recommend available bioinformatics tools to integrate into the platform as needed
5. Train coworkers, collaborators, and state and federal partners to use these new tools
6. Prepare findings for presentations at conferences, workshops, meetings, and in publications
7. Work with CDC IT staff to securely integrate any new tools and platforms into existing IT infrastructure.
8. Investigate cloud-based instances of the systems for improved jurisdictional access

Supervisory control:

The fellow will discuss and plan the priorities and research project in conjunction with the Activity and/or Team leads. It is expected that the scientist will perform all the analyses and software development required for this work and will coordinate bioinformatics tool development with their immediate supervisor and other scientists, epidemiologists and software programmers and other team members. Completed work will be reviewed from an overall standpoint in terms of feasibility, and effectiveness in meeting requirements.

The fellow will not have supervisory responsibilities.

Guidelines and originality:

The proposed assignments and responsibilities are essential for the mission of the HIV Laboratory Branch, DHAP, NCHHSTP, CDC, and HHS. Our Branch is pioneering development of novel bioinformatic tools and platforms to combine and analyze laboratory and epidemiologic data to detect concerning HIV clusters. This work is a key pillar of the President’s initiative to end the HIV Epidemic by 2030. This high impact work will lead to early recognition of transmission networks, improve targeting of prevention strategies, and modeling and prediction of local and national epidemics, especially if automated and applied in near real time. Furthermore, the new tools can be applied to studies of transmission networks of other pathogens or epidemiologic investigations of any disease. The long-term scalability of the project will provide increased data sharing capabilities that will improve situational awareness at the federal, state and local levels. Given the complex nature of these projects, multiple laboratory and bioinformatics skills are needed, including virology, molecular biology, microbiology, data science, programming, training others to use bioinformatics, and preparation of protocols, presentations, and manuscripts.

We are building novel bioinformatic methods and systems for HIV cluster detection and characterization, hence guidelines for their construction are limited or non-existent. The fellow will use their technical expertise to evaluate, analyze, and recommend available guidelines and resources, including those identified by literature and internet searches, for adaptation to develop the bioinformatics methods and systems to combine various data sources to detect, visualize and report HIV clusters. When development and implementation guidelines are not available, the fellow will consult with supervisor and utilize his/her bioinformatics experience to build new methods and systems that can be integrated with existing tools and platforms. Development of new methods and systems will require agile, original, critical, and creative solutions identified by the fellow in consultation with the activity and team leads.

Contribution, impact, and stature

The fellow will assist with the development and deployment of bioinformatics tools to automate integration and analysis of laboratory and epidemiologic data for HIV cluster detection and response, which is a key pillar of the President’s initiative to end the HIV Epidemic by 2030. The fellow will also use the new tools to analyze several datasets from various studies, outbreaks, and national surveillance to identify transmission clusters requiring targeted interventions. This work is essential to advance CDC’s mission to prevent disease and develop sound public health policies.

Preferred skills

• Bioinformatics, molecular epidemiology experience (phylogenetics, phylodynamics, networks), microbiology, genomics
• Network theory experience
• Relevant experience in bioinformatics analysis or scientific computing
• Experience with programming languages such as R, bash, Perl, Python, JavaScript, D3.js, MatLab, React, Angular, R Shiny, and Linux Operating Systems (e.g. Ubuntu, RedHat, CentOS), and Linux command line
• Experience with high performance computing
• Experience with the development of bioinformatic pipelines
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Knowledge of bioinformatics applications and analysis, particularly as it pertains to analysis of pathogen genomics data, including next generation sequencing (NGS) platforms

Education requirements

Bachelor of Science or Master’s Degree in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biology, or Microbiology

To Apply:

Job posting not available yet. Contact Bill Switzer for details at bis3 [at] cdc [dot] gov. Fellows will be working on the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative, which you can learn about here and development of the MicrobeTrace tool which you can learn about here.

Epidemiologist I, Eagle Global Scientific

Eagle Global Scientific is a Life Sciences company composed of diverse leadership, partners, and employees who share a passion for the interplay between medical, biological, and environmental sciences. They are seeking immediate hire for an Epidemiologist position. To learn more about their company click here.

Position Description:

• Attend weekly regularly scheduled meetings for the project.
• Attend weekly regularly scheduled Response Team meetings.
• Assist the High Risk and Electronic Team with data analysis and management on both prospective cohort and Electronic Medical Record (EMR) studies.
• Assist in describing the incidence, clinical testing patterns, characteristics of severe COVID-19 in hospitalized cases as well as less severe COVID-19 in the ambulatory and virtual care settings, and COVID-19 surveillance indicators within 10 health system sites who participate in VISION electronic medical records (EMR) vaccine effectiveness (VE) Network.
• Assess the rate of vaccination against COVID-19 illness among target populations as well as examine the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing COVID-19 related severe outcomes among target populations, including older adults and those with high risk conditions.
• Examine the effectiveness of different vaccine products and recommended regimens (e.g., doses, time between doses).
• Evaluate the potential value of vaccine in attenuating illness severity among those with breakthrough infections.

If interested please contact Jinni J. Amin, jinni [dot] amin [at] egs-anc [dot] com / 757-813-8019. 

Epidemiologist I, Tennessee Department of Health

The Tennessee Department of Health’s Division of Family Health and Wellness (FHW) is hiring an Epidemiologist 1 in Nashville, TN. This position will be responsible for project management as well as quantitative and qualitative data collection, management, analysis, and visualization.

Key Responsibilities:

• Participate in strategic planning activities
• Review and follow grant guidance
• Identify and develop evidence-based strategies to address priority areas
• Collect, synthesize, and compile information for grant applications/reports
• Utilize input from and foster partnerships with public, private, and non-profit sector stakeholders
• Design and maintain (with assistance) webpages on the state website
• Design data collection systems utilizing tools such as RedCap and Alchemer
• Link datasets
• Analyze and visualize data utilizing tools such as SAS, Tableau, and ArcGIS
• Measure and evaluate program impact on health outcomes
• Present data to professional and lay audiences
• Lead FHW emergency preparedness and response efforts
• Ability to work remotely

Minimum Requirements:

Education and Experience: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a master’s degree in epidemiology.

OR

Education and Experience: Graduation from an accredited college or university with a master’s degree public health, biostatistics, statistics, health informatics health sciences, biomedical sciences or environmental sciences with experience equivalent to two years’ work experience in epidemiology.

Substitution of Education for Experience: Additional graduate coursework in public health or an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Fellowship may substitute for the required experience on a year-for-year basis to a maximum of two years.

To apply:

Complete application process through tn.gov/careers.

Job ID: 18933

Data Management Coordinator, Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Work Schedule/Days:  Day / Monday – Friday
Employment Type:  Full-Time
Location:  Children’s at Houston Mill 
Requisition #:  73981

About Us:

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has been 100 percent committed to kids for more than 100 years. A not-for-profit organization, Children’s is dedicated to making kids better today and healthier tomorrow.

With 3 hospitals, 20 neighborhood locations and a total of 673 beds, Children’s is the largest healthcare provider for children in Georgia and one of the largest pediatric clinical care providers in the country. Children’s offers access to more than 60 pediatric specialties and programs and is ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

Children’s has been recognized as a Fortune 100 Best Place to Work, a Best Place for Working Mothers, and as a top employer for diversity and millennials.  We offer a comprehensive compensation and benefit package that supports our mission, vision and values.  We are proud to offer an array of programs and services to our employees that have distinguished us as a best place to work in the country.  Connect to our mission of making kids better today and healthier tomorrow. 

To apply:

Click here to apply or send questions and resumes to Rebecca Lewis, rebecca [dot] lewis [at] choa [dot] org!

Environmental Statistician ORISE Position, CDC

This position is within the Geospatial Research, Analysis and Services Program (GRASP), a program within the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). GRASP is responsible for geospatial science, analysis, visualization, and technology as applied to environmental health, site-specific exposure, infectious & chronic disease, injury, and emergency preparedness & response. GRASP works with ATSDR, other CDC centers/institutes/offices, state/local health organizations, other federal agencies, international governments, academia, and advocacy groups.

GRASP OVERVIEW
The mission of GRASP is to provide leadership and expertise in the application of the concepts, methods, and tools of geography and geospatial information science to public health research and practice. The objectives of GRASP are to:

• Research and analyze the geospatial trends and patterns associated with environmental health, infectious & chronic disease, injury, and emergency preparedness & response.
• Geospatially enable ATSDR scientists and systems with data, consulting, technology, & training.
• Collaborate with scientists at the CDC/ATSDR and among our public health partners to address environmental health, infectious & chronic disease, injury, and emergency preparedness & response issues.
• Contribute to a vibrant geospatial community among public health professionals.
• Embrace, leverage and promote technology.

POSITION OVERVIEW
As an environmental statistician with GIS experience, the incumbent will provide support and expertise to GRASP and its research partners in the statistical analysis of spatial data. As an environmental statistician, the incumbent will also provide support to GRASP’s Geospatial Epidemiology and Applied Research (GEAR) unit. Specific duties and responsibilities associated with this role are outlined below.
(1) Statistical Consulting & Review
a. Respond to and support internal GRASP statistical requests as they are submitted
b. Serve as a primary environmental statistician on GRASP-supported projects by providing analytic expertise and statistical support to GRASP research partners
c. Review interpretations of results from statistical analyses to ensure findings are communicated clearly and accurately based on the analysis that was completed
(2) Data Analysis, Reporting, and Management
a. Determine the most suitable sampling collection methodologies for field operations
b. Develop analytic plans and strategies for the analysis of spatial data
c. Clean and prepare data for analysis
d. Perform quality checks on data and results to ensure accuracy and consistency
e. Coordinate flow of data from data sources, to data storage (e.g., SQL database), and data use
f. Conduct spatial analyses, including spatial autocorrelation, interpolation, cluster, and regression analysis, and maintain strong documentation
g. Prepare reports of scientific data, including tables, charts, and other data visualizations
(3) Geospatial Services
a. Use geoprocessing software to explore, describe, visualize, and analyze spatial relationships thereby enabling CDC/ATSDR to better understand geospatial factors relevant to environmental exposure, infectious & chronic disease, injury, and emergency preparedness & response
b. Expand knowledge in the use of GIS and public health methods, software, tools, and data
(4) Study Design & Research
a. Provide strategic counsel, guidance, and recommendations to project partners for designing ecological and epidemiological studies
b. Contribute to original epidemiological research
(5) Project Management and Coordination
a. Coordinate with GRASP colleagues on research, project needs, and analyses
b. As needed, organize and coordinate research projects
KEYS TO SUCCESS

• Strong collaborative skills and ability to communicate with a multidisciplinary staff
• Strong quantitative skills, which may include proficiency in SAS, R, ArcGIS, SaTScan, GeoDa, Power BI, Tableau, and SQL Server or other relational database management systems
• GIS skills, data analysis, and data management
• Strong attention to detail and documentation of work
• Experience and professional interest in environmental exposure and health effects
• Experience and professional interest in electronic health records and analysis of large public use datasets, including environmental, socioeconomic, demographic and health outcome data

HOW TO APPLY
1. Provide resumé to Danielle Sharpe (oyv7 [at] cdc [dot] gov), with CC to Andrew (Andy) Dent (aed5 [at] cdc [dot] gov) and Shannon Graham (buu9 [at] cdc [dot] gov). Use subject line GRASP/ORISE.
2. Follow-up questions should be addressed to the persons identified above.

ORISE Environmental Epi Internship, CDC

A research opportunity is currently available with the One Health Office in the Office of the Director at the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Throughout the course of this research project, the selected participant will gain experience in the field of zoonotic and emerging infectious diseases, specifically those that involve the human-animal-environment interface, One Health, and COVID-19. Specific projects involve epidemiological, programmatic, and educational projects related to the prevention and control of zoonoses, and contributing to the development of guidance for use by human and animal health and other partners that can enhance surveillance, response, and prevention of zoonoses in the US and globally.

Under the guidance of a mentor, the participant may be involved in the following activities:

• Contributing to One Health activities related to human-animal-environment interface issues, COVID-19, emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, pandemic preparedness, and outbreak response
• Assisting in the development of resources to support partners to address zoonotic diseases, including COVID-19
• Developing data analysis plans and analyzing data collected from epidemiological studies and information collected from human and animal health partners 
• Developing visualizations from data gathered from epidemiological studies and surveillance activities 
• Collaborating to support the development of resources for pandemic planning and guidance development for companion animals, zoo animals, wildlife, and livestock 
• Conducting systematic reviews and literature searches to support the development of evidence-based recommendations related to COVID-19 and One Health
• Maintaining accurate records of process-specific objectives, timelines, outcomes, and deliverables
• Writing and editing summary of evidence documents and prevention recommendations
• Collaborating with One Health groups (both internal and external to CDC), professional human, animal, and environmental health societies, local, state and city health departments, international organizations and governments, non-governmental organizations, and community-based organizations, and others

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: August 1, 2021

Application Deadline: August 16, 2021, 3:00 PM Eastern Time Zone. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and CDC. The initial appointment can be up to one year, but may be renewed for an additional four years upon recommendation of CDC contingent on the availability of funds. The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. The appointment is full-time at CDC in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. Participants do not become employees of CDC, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits.

Qualifications

The qualified candidate should have received a master’s degree in one of the relevant fields, or be currently pursuing the degree with completion by August 1, 2021. Degree must have been received within the past five years.

Preferred skills

• Knowledge and understanding of One Health, public health, and epidemiological principles
• Basic skills in oral and written communication, including experience with writing and editing documents and making presentations to scientific and non-scientific communities
• Competency in quality management system procedures and database software (Adobe Professional, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Access)
• Knowledge and experience in web-based analysis tools 
• Intermediate data analytical skills (e.g., mathematical or statistical modeling)
• Intermediate or higher knowledge of a statistical programming language (e.g. R, SAS)
• Ability to search and assess scientific literature (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, etc)

A complete application consists of:

• An application
• Transcripts – Click here for detailed information about acceptable transcripts
• A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
• One educational or professional recommendation. Your application will be considered incomplete, and will not be reviewed until one recommendation is submitted.

All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.

If you have questions, send an email to ORISE [dot] CDC [dot] NCEZID [at] orau [dot] org. Please include the reference code for this opportunity in your email.

To apply or learn more click here!

Senior Research Data Specialist, Access Community Health Network

Data Scientists, Booz Allen Hamilton

A health analytics-related contract at Booz Allen Hamilton’s Atlanta office is currently sourcing for Data Scientist/Senior Consultants, which has a strong preference for Epidemiology/Public Health degrees. Applicants should have SAS, R, and Python experience, data visualization experience, and additional experience with manuscript and SOP development.

If you have any questions about being an epidemiology-focused data scientist at Booz Allen and/or would like to be referred to the hiring manager please reach out to Michelle Schmitz at mmschmitz [at] alumni [dot] emory [dot] edu.

Positions

To read more and apply, click on the links below: