Community Epidemiologist

This position may be eligible for a hybrid work schedule (both remote and in-person workdays). The position will not be fully remote.

Under the leadership of the Senior Community Epidemiologist, conducts active epidemiologic surveillance, inferential epidemiologic studies, and provides technical expertise. Determines community health status in relation to public health services and identifies areas of unmet needs. Assists in the planning and direction of analytical studies, reviews vital records, statistics, and other related health data, and prepares technical reports, proposals, articles, and presentations to communicate epidemiologic studies on existing or anticipated health issues in the County. Supports health leaders and community organizations with community-based research projects in order to improve the population’s health and quality of life for residents of the County.

1. Identifies and utilizes appropriate methods of quantitative analysis and statistical software to identify demographic, geographic, cultural, and other variables associated to the incidence of communicable and chronic diseases; to identify sources of exposure and disease transmission; to model future occurrences of disease. Often must exercise considerable latitude and creativity to adapt epidemiologic principles to local public health issues.
2. Disseminates results of routine public health surveillance, descriptive analysis of health outcomes, and inferential/advanced analysis through publishing internal and public reports and making presentations at local, state, and national events. Designs and develops materials for various audiences with diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, and educational attainment, using many relevant data visualization methods including mapping, dashboards, etc.
3. As part of surveillance activities, identifies health disparities and inequities among minority groups and disproportionately affected populations.
4. Uses applicable methods (SQL, census, data requests, etc.) to retrieve complex datasets from a variety of available scientifically appropriate sources, and cleans data for analysis and dissemination using proper epidemiologic and biostatistical techniques.
5. Provides scientific guidance and technical assistance to internal and community partners with respect to public health surveillance and other epidemiologic data/evaluation—with an understanding of the appropriate cultural/social/political framework and the ethical/legal issues related to epidemiologic data collection, dissemination, and use.
6. Under the leadership of the Senior Community Epidemiologist, plans and guides a multi-agency, multi-organizational quantitative effort to assess the population’s health of the capital area region and Ingham County. May support other aspects of community health assessment and improvement plan as assigned.
7. Engages in development of public health surveillance systems, data linkages, databases, and other health informatics activities for the improvement of public health practice.
8. Assists in emergency preparedness activities, including pre-event planning, outbreak investigation, and post-event recovery.
9. Provides consultative services to internal and community partners on surveys and other methods of primary data collection throughout the project life-cycle: design, development, operations, data management, analysis, visualization, and dissemination. 
10. Delivers analytical assistance in implementation, evaluation, and quality assurance of evidence-based programs, strategies, and activities to improve the health and quality of life for Ingham County residents and visitors.
11. Contributes epidemiological support and data consultation in planning, developing, and writing grant applications for various program funding opportunities for the department and community partners. Conducts grant implementation, coordination, and leadership for epidemiology-related grants.
12. Serves on internal and external committees as an epidemiologic resource as directed by the Senior Community Epidemiologist.
13. Under guidance of Senior Community Epidemiologist, interviews, selects, and supervises public health and nursing student interns; serves as proctor for student practicums as needed.

Other Functions:

• Performs other duties as assigned.
• Must adhere to departmental standards in regard to HIPAA and other privacy issues.
• During a public health emergency, the employee may be required to perform duties similar to but not limited to those in his/her job description.

(An employee in this position may be called upon to do any or all of the above tasks. These examples do not include all of the tasks which the employee may be expected to perform.)

Education:

• Master’s degree in Epidemiology or Biostatistics from an accredited public health school or program and a minimum three years of experience designing, analyzing and interpreting research findings with programming and database management is required.

Other Requirements:

• Advanced proficiency in statistical software programing (e.g. R, SQL, SAS).
• Knowledge of principles, practices, current developments, and techniques related to epidemiology, including those espoused in the 2023 Applied Epidemiology Competencies.
• Knowledge of principles and practices related to public health.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, with emphasis in Excel.
• Skill in effectively communicating ideas and concepts orally and in writing for a variety of audiences with diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, and levels of educational attainment.
• Ability to establish effective working relationships and use good judgment, initiative and resourcefulness when working with staff, community organizations, the public, and other stakeholders.
• Possession of strong quantitative reasoning and data analysis skills, including ability to work with large datasets.
• Experience with applied epidemiology in local or state public health departments strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated decision-making ability and problem-solving skills, with strength in detail-orientation and continuous concentration. Ability to carry out job functions with considerable independence when necessary.

(The qualifications listed above are intended to represent the minimum skills and experience levels associated with performing the duties and responsibilities contained in this job description. The qualifications should not be viewed as expressing absolute employment or promotional standards, but as general guidelines that should be considered along with other job-related selection or promotional criteria.)

Physical Requirements:

• Sitting, walking, standing, bending over and lifting/holding/carrying objects found in an office environment.
• Ability to communicate and respond to co-worker and customer inquiries both in person and over the phone.
• Ability to operate a PC/laptop and to enter & retrieve information from a computer.

(This job requires the ability to perform the essential functions contained in this description. These include, but are not limited to, the requirements listed above. Reasonable accommodations will be made for otherwise qualified applicants unable to fulfill one or more of these requirements.)

Working Conditions:

Salary : $74,729