Supervising Epidemiologist

Full Job Description

Duties may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Develop and implement policies and procedures for the collection, use and/or release of data to abide by federal and state laws and epidemiologic best practices to guard confidentiality.
  
  
• Develop and implement policies and procedures for conducting investigations of outbreaks, including coordination with partner agencies (e.g., environmental health, emergency medical services, emergency preparedness, etc.).
  
  
• Manage the epidemiology unit.
  
  
• Supervise, evaluate, train and advise staff.
  
  
• Develop and conduct evaluation for Department programs.
  
  
• Serve as departmental resource for data collection and analysis as well as evidence-based practices to partner agencies and the public.
  
  
• Establish and maintain information and surveillance systems to monitor community health status /trends.
  
  
• Oversee public health accreditation program activities, including completion of and compliance with required public health plans.
  
  
• Serve as the lead in coordination and evaluation of quality improvement/process improvement efforts.
  
  
• Oversee the selection and implementation of evaluation designs, evaluation activities, data analysis, results reporting and communicating information out in a generally understood manner.
  
  
• Liaise with internal stakeholders and programs for sharing information pertinent to program or project evaluations.
  
  
• Create evaluation protocols and processes to assess program progress and effectiveness, including data collection methods, survey design and implementation and instrument development/validation.
  
  
• Prepare clear and concise epidemiologic reports and journal publications.
  
  
• Develop and conduct quality assurance activities to ensure data is being entered systematically and correctly.
  
  
• Participates and/or leads in a variety of meetings, committees, study groups and task forces in the community.
  
  
• Conduct other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Experience:
Three (3) years of experience in the field of epidemiology, preferably in a government or public setting, with at least one (1) year experience performing duties comparable to an Epidemiologist II in Merced County.

Education:
Master's Degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in epidemiology, biostatistics, economics, health informatics, applied psychology or a closely related field. Possession of Doctoral Degree in qualifying fields may substitute for one (1) year of the required experience.

Qualifications

• Operate a personal computer and other office equipment.
  
  
• Communicate effectively with others in person and over the telephone.
  
  
• Supervise, evaluate, train and advise staff.
  
  
• Meet deadlines and complete multiple priority projects under stressful conditions.
  
  
• Establish, implement and achieve goals and objectives.
  
  
• Maintain confidential information in accordance with legal standards and/or County regulations.
  
  
• Represent the County with the community and other agencies.
  
  
• Frequent use of depth perception, peripheral vision and color perception.
  
  
• Frequently lift, carry, reach, push, pull, twist and manipulate large and small objects.
  
  
• Frequent use of data entry device including repetitive hand and arm motion.
  
  
• Occasionally lift and carry up to 40 pounds.
  
  
• Normal dexterity, frequent holding and grasping.
  
  
• Regular attendance is an essential function.

Knowledge of:

• Effective principles and practices of public health data, program evaluation, epidemiology and biostatistics.
  
  
• Grant sources, grant proposal preparation and grant evaluation.
  
  
• Effective principles and practices of program management and program evaluation statistical software programs and packages (e.g., SAS, SPSS, GIS, etc.).
  
  
• Surveillance tools, database development and management.
  
  
• Methods and format for preparation of manuscripts.
  
  
• Environmental, socio-economic, cultural and community issues impacting epidemiology.
  
  
• Expertise in interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data from multiple sources of information.
  
  
• Familiarity with geo-spatial mapping software, online survey tools, relational database software and/or webware.
  
  
• Application of epidemiology and routes of transmission in order to prevent, control, research and investigate non-/communicable diseases
  
  
• Understand and be able to evaluate chronic disease management and health promotion programs.
  
  
• Descriptive, inferential, parametric and non-parametric statistics; regression, and other mathematical modeling.
  
  
• Applications for the storage, management, manipulation and analysis of large sets of data.
  
  
• Principles and techniques of supervision, training and management.

Ability to:

• Effectively communicate (written and oral) with multiple stakeholders, service providers, and all levels of staff.
  
  
• Plan, organize, supervise and coordinate the work of assigned staff.
  
  
• Plan, conduct and evaluate epidemiological projects and studies.
  
  
• Work independently on a variety of tasks with minimal supervision
  
  
• Prepare accurate, concise, complete and informative written materials.
  
  
• Develop protocols, guides and facilitate interviews and focus groups, when required.
  
  
• Establish and maintain positive relationships.