Epidemiologist - Nashville, TN

STI; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

STI in Nashville is seeking a Contract Epidemiologist to support Expanded Nonfatal Overdose Surveillance under the OD2A grant. You will develop expertise in ESSENCE, help define surveillance definitions, and integrate ESSENCE data with REDCap and other systems.

You will train staff, build monthly overdose burden reports, and present findings to internal stakeholders, combining epidemiology with data visualization and cross-team collaboration.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Public Health, or related field.
• Experience analyzing large administrative or surveillance datasets.
• Experience with SAS, SQL, R, Tableau or similar software.
• Knowledge of public health surveillance systems, syndromic or overdose surveillance preferred.
• Experience study design, data quality assessment, statistical analysis, and interpretation of public health data.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; ability to present to diverse audiences.
• Ability to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams and manage multiple projects.

Responsibilities

• Develop expertise in ESSENCE and support statewide nonfatal overdose surveillance.
• Collaborate to develop and validate surveillance definitions for emerging substances.
• Integrate ESSENCE data with REDCap and other systems.
• Train team members on ESSENCE workflows and data management.
• Develop and maintain monthly overdose burden reports for planning and decision-making.
• Evaluate data sources and design automated reporting tools for monthly trends.
• Perform quality assurance to ensure data completeness and accuracy before dissemination.
• Present surveillance findings and provide guidance on interpretation to internal stakeholders.

Skills

Epidemiologic data analysis

Public health surveillance

Team collaboration

Technical report writing

Education

Master's degree in Epidemiology or related field

Tools

SAS

SQL

R

Tableau

Job description

Contract Epidemiologist – Expanded Nonfatal Overdose Surveillance Support (OD2A Grant)

Location: Nashville, TN 37243

Shift: 8-4.30PM

Interview: Phone and in-person

Requirement: Must work in office 1 day a week.

Primary Responsibilities

Nonfatal Overdose Surveillance

• Develop expertise in the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) and support statewide nonfatal overdose surveillance.
• Collaborate with surveillance staff to develop and validate surveillance definitions for emerging substances, including medetomidine, vape shop products, cannabis, and other emerging drug classes.
• Collaborate with internal partners to support integration of ESSENCE data with REDCap and other surveillance systems.
• Train team members on ESSENCE workflows, surveillance definitions, and data management processes.

Surveillance Reporting and Data Visualization

• Develop and maintain standardized monthly overdose burden reports to support internal planning and decision-making.
• Evaluate available surveillance data sources to identify the most appropriate data for routine reporting.
• Design and maintain automated reporting tools to efficiently produce monthly trend reports.
• Perform quality assurance reviews to ensure data completeness, accuracy, and consistency prior to dissemination.
• Present surveillance findings and provide technical guidance on interpretation of overdose trends to internal stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Public Health, or a related field.
• Experience conducting epidemiologic analyses using large administrative or surveillance datasets.
• Experience with SAS, SQL, R, Tableau, or similar analytic and visualization software.
• Knowledge of public health surveillance systems, syndromic surveillance, or overdose surveillance is preferred.
• Experience with study design, data quality assessment, statistical analysis, and interpretation of public health data.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing technical reports and presenting findings to diverse audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively within multidisciplinary teams and manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Desired Characteristics

The ideal candidate is a curious, collaborative, and detail-oriented epidemiologist who enjoys solving complex analytic problems and translating data into actionable public health information. They should be comfortable learning new surveillance systems, evaluating data quality, developing innovative surveillance products, and communicating findings to technical and non-technical audiences. A strong commitment to continuous learning, teamwork, and improving overdose prevention efforts is essential.