Epidemiologist

This is a hybrid role, 2 days in person and 3 remote, but potentially less depending on meetings and trainings.

The purpose of this position is to minimize morbidity and mortality associated with measles among residents by conducting a broad and complex range of investigative and analytical epidemiological activities to perform surveillance of measles.

A Day in the Life:

The essential functions of this role are as follows:
Maintain current subject matter knowledge of the epidemiology and biology of diseases and public health topics.
Provide epidemiologic consultation and technical assistance to local health departments, health care providers, the general public, and other partners with respect to diseases and public health topics.
Conduct routine epidemiologic surveillance for disease and public health topics.
Lead or coordinate epidemiologic investigations of individual cases and/or outbreaks of diseases or public health topics.
Design and conduct applied epidemiologic studies of diseases or public health topics.
Manage and analyze data collected through routine surveillance, public health investigations, and applied epidemiologic studies.
Prepare and disseminate written and oral reports and presentations that communicate necessary information to internal and external partners.
Conduct educational presentations and/or trainings for a variety of audiences, including local health departments, health care providers, veterinarians, and the general public.
Engage directly with members of the public at health fairs and other outreach events.
Participate in writing grants and other funding proposals.
Serve as a backup to other staff, as needed.
If applicable for program area, serve as the epidemiologist on call after business hours for approximately two to three weeks per year.
Recruit, select, onboard, and train employees to ensure role responsibilities and expectations are clearly understood while providing opportunities to continue professional development.
Set expectations, measure progress, provide ongoing feedback, and evaluate the performance of employees. Ensure work adheres to quality standards, deadlines, and proper procedures.
Essential functions of this position require travel on most workdays to inspect, audit, examine, survey, or investigate clients, customers, or other regulated entities and write reports at those sites or employee's home. Employee reports to the client's office for occasional meetings or events. Number and timing of work hours may vary daily or weekly to accommodate operational needs and staffing concerns at the client's or customer's worksite, minimize expenditures for repeated visits to complete the work, and allocate resources to complete assigned work effectively.

The job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Other duties, responsibilities and activities may change or be assigned at any time with or without notice.

What You'll Need for Success:

Individuals in this role should minimally be able to articulate or demonstrate the following:
Knowledge of the epidemiology and biology of diseases and public health topics.
Knowledge of state laws and regulations as well as federal public health guidance documents pertaining to diseases and public health topics.
Skill in identification of public health problems pertinent to residents.
Skill in conducting epidemiologic surveillance activities, including selection and use of appropriate field methods as well as use and evaluation of public health surveillance systems.
Skill in eliciting relevant information from patients in structured or unstructured telephone interviews.
Skill in conducting public health investigations of individual cases and/or outbreaks of diseases or public health topics.
Skill in designing descriptive and analytical epidemiologic investigations, including hypothesis generation.
Skill in managing large datasets, performing complex data analyses, and identifying key findings.
Skill in recommending evidence-based interventions and control measures in response to epidemiologic findings.
Skill in preparing written and oral reports, presentations, and educational materials that communicate necessary information to internal and external partners.
Skill in applying principles of informatics, including data collection, processing, and analysis, in support of epidemiologic practice.
Demonstrated skill in statistical, analytical, and/or geospatial software (e.g., EpiInfo, SAS, ArcGIS, SQL, SPSS, R, Python, Stata, etc.).
Ability to identify appropriate laboratory resources and use them appropriately.
Ability to provide prompt, courteous, and helpful customer service.
Ability to collaborate with others inside and outside the client to identify public health problems and form recommendations.
Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, using principles of risk communication where appropriate.
Ability to prioritize tasks efficiently to meet internal and external deadlines.
Ability to appropriately document work activities and maintain organized records.

A degree is not required. However, at least 10+ years of public health experience applying the outlined knowledge, skills, and abilities in a similar role may be considered. Completion of relevant education degree(s) may substitute for equivalent years of experience.

Individuals should have the ability to perform essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation.

Skill - Required / Desired - Amount of Experience
A master's degree in a relevant field (e.g., public health, biological sciences, or social sciences) - Required
OR A master's degree in a non-relevant field and = 2 years of public health experience - Required
OR A bachelor's degree in a relevant field (e.g., public health, biological sciences, or social sciences) and = 2 years of public health experience - Required
OR A bachelor's degree in a non-relevant field and = 4 years of public health experience - Required
OR A high school diploma or GED and = 8 years of public health experience - Required
Public health experience in a similar role, or a relevant degree that substitutes for part of it (MPH, epidemiology, biostatistics, public health) - Required - 10 Years
Software proficiency: at least one of EpiInfo, SAS, ArcGIS, SQL, SPSS, R, Python, or Stata - Required - 5 Years
Surveillance: hands-on disease surveillance work, including use of surveillance systems - Required - 5 Years
Outbreak/case investigation: led or coordinated investigations, ideally for vaccine-preventable or communicable diseases - Required - 5 Years
Data analysis: experience with large datasets, complex analyses, descriptive and analytical studies - Required - 5 Years
Experience with patient or case telephone interviewing - Highly desired
Experience creating reports and presentations delivered to health departments, providers, or the public - Highly desired
Training or education experience delivered to external audiences - Highly desired
Collaboration experience with CDC, state or local health departments, labs, or providers - Highly desired
Knowledge of public health law, privacy rules, and confidentiality (e.g., HIPAA) - Highly desired
Experience with grant or funding proposal writing - Highly desired
Team lead or supervisory experience (hiring, training, evaluating staff) - Highly desired

Supervisory Responsibilities/Direct Reports:
This role may serve as a team lead for an assigned work group.

Difficulty of Work:
The employee must have or rapidly acquire expert knowledge of the epidemiology of diseases and public health topics. They must use this knowledge and their critical thinking skills to ascertain the existence of public health threats, conduct public health investigations, and identify appropriate interventions. The employee will routinely exercise independent judgment to identify appropriate actions in complex situations that are not explicitly described in state regulations and public health guidance documents. The employee must routinely reorganize their work activities to prioritize emergent public health threats, often with little to no advance warning. They are expected to show initiative in independently identifying and executing process improvements and/or special projects that would benefit client and residents. Failure of the employee to properly execute their duties could have grave consequences for residents.

Responsibility:
The employee is expected to support the vision, comply with client administrative and fiscal policies, and practice cultural sensitivity in all work activities. The employee must have knowledge of state and federal privacy laws and always protect patient confidentiality. The employee must identify possible ethical conflicts in work activities and request assistance from the supervisor in resolving them. The employee is expected to independently identify opportunities for their professional development that would benefit residents. The employee initially works under the close supervision of their supervisor but works more independently with acquired experience. The supervisor sets the overall objectives and determines what resources are available. The employee and the supervisor will work together to develop guidelines, projects, and work to be done. The employee plans, directs, monitors, evaluates, and identifies needs and resolves most conflicts within assigned projects. The employee interprets and applies policies in terms of established goals, objectives, and accepted practices. The employee is expected to bring controversial or complex issues to the attention of the supervisor for more detailed direction and guidance. The employee is expected to keep the supervisor informed of progress and potentially critical items. Completed work is reviewed for feasibility, conformance to program policy and practices, and effectiveness in meeting specific goals and objectives.

Personal Work Relationships:
The employee works closely with a variety of stakeholders, which may include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Laboratories, health care providers, local health departments, and other state agencies. The employee is expected to maintain good working relationships with these entities as well as other internal and external partners.

Physical Effort:
This role performs work in an environment where sitting for extended periods of time could be expected.

Working Conditions:
This role requires occasional and/or overnight travel.
This role performs work in a standard office environment.

Notes:
This is a hybrid role, 2 days in person and 3 remote, but potentially less depending on meetings and trainings.

VIVA is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants have an equal opportunity for placement, and all employees have an equal opportunity to develop on the job. This means that VIVA will not discriminate against any employee or qualified applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status