Epidemiologist

Contract Epidemiologist

Requirment: Must work in office 1 day a week. 

This position is housed within the Office of Informatics & Analytics (OIA) at the Tennessee Department of Health. The Epidemiologist will lead data analyses and collaborate with multidisciplinary team members to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of statewide initiatives aimed at reducing substance use, overdose, and related harms. The position will leverage data from the Controlled Substance Monitoring Database (CSMD), Tennessee's Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), the Hospital Discharge Data System (HDDS), Vital Statistics death certificate data, and other health-related datasets to examine relationships between exposures, interventions, and health outcomes. We are seeking a collaborative and analytically skilled professional with experience in study design, epidemiologic methods, statistical modeling, and scientific writing who is passionate about translating data into evidence-based public health action.

Duties include:

· Support evaluations of overdose prevention and interventions such as prescribing limits, naloxone distribution, and provider education programs.

· Produce reports specific to buprenorphine and stimulants and create visualization products for dissemination.

· Perform statistical analysis to identify trends, hotspots, and risk factors for drug overdose.

· Create dashboards and reports for internal and external stakeholders.

· Work with epidemiologists, program managers, and healthcare providers to inform prevention and intervention efforts.

· Ensure data quality, security, and confidentiality in line with HIPAA, applicable data governance policies and other regulations.

· Contribute to grant applications, research studies, and presentations as needed.

Qualifications:

Required:

· Master’s degree in public health, Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Data Science, or related field.

· Minimum of 2 years of experience in public health and analytics.

· Proficiency in analytical (e.g., R, SAS, Stata).

· Strong SQL skills and familiarity with relational databases.

· Experience linking different datasets is a plus but not necessary.

· Ability to communicate complex data findings to non-technical audiences.

· Knowledge of public health data sources and overdose surveillance systems.