Epidemiologist - Public Health

Mecklenburg County; North Carolina; On-site; USD 63,000 - 83,000; Full time

Job summary

Mecklenburg County Public Health in North Carolina is seeking an experienced data-driven epidemiologist to monitor overdose surveillance, perform analyses, and prepare presentations for leadership and the community. This on-site role gathers and interprets data to inform policy and program decisions.

The hire will collaborate with department staff, apply descriptive epidemiology methods, and support outbreak investigations with a focus on community health indicators and reporting.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in public health (MPH, MSPH) Epidemiology or related field.
• Requires a valid North Carolina or South Carolina Driver's License.
• Combination of relevant education and relevant experience accepted.

Responsibilities

• Gathers data that describes and tracks overdose morbidity and mortality.
• Provides interpretation and illustration of data within department and to community.
• Oversees epidemiological and investigative work in disease surveillance or studies.
• Monitor, report and present on incidence and prevalence of overdose events.
• Perform analyses focusing on community health indicators and prepare reports.
• Disseminate surveillance results in language suitable for the target audience.

Skills

Epidemiology methods

Public health data

Data visualization

Data analysis

Communication

Questionnaire design

Collaboration

Education

Master's in public health (MPH) Epidemiology

Tools

SAS

Stata

SPSS

R

Excel

Job description

“Follow Your Calling, Find Your Career”
Hiring Range: $63,080.00 - $82,792.50
This is an exempt (salaried) position. Pay rates are based on education, skill, experience level and internal equity. Internal equity consideration included an assessment of the applicant’s salary history and qualifications in comparison to the market rate and requirement for the job.
This role is on-site 5 days a week, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
This is a grant-funded position, funded by the CDC “Overdose Data to Action: Local” federal grant. The grant performance period is September 1, 2023 - August 31, 2028 with potential to extend based on available funding.
About Us
At Mecklenburg County, you’ll have the chance to build a career as unique as you are with support, inclusive culture and technology to become the best version of you. We’re counting on YOUR unique voice and perspective to help Mecklenburg County Public Health become even better, too. Join us and build an exceptional experience for yourself, and a healthier world for all.
As a member of the Mecklenburg County Public Health team, you will become a subject matter expert in the public health field. The CDC foundation explains that “Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. This work is achieved by promoting health lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, detecting, preventing, and responding to infectious disease”.
Come be a part of Mecklenburg County’s Public Health department’s vision to “assure the health and safety of our diverse and changing community today and for future generations.”
Position Summary
Gathers data that describes and tracks the community’s experience drug overdose morbidity and mortality and provides interpretation and illustration of that data within the department, the county and to the community through presentation and reporting. Oversees professional, epidemiological and investigative work by assisting in the design, conduct, and analysis of epidemiological investigations for disease surveillance or special studies.
Essential Functions

• Monitor, report and present on the incidence and prevalence of drug overdose events in the county, risk factors, and other adverse health outcomes
• Perform epidemiological and statistical analyses on a variety of data with a focus on community health indicators and prepare results for review in the form of presentations and reports
• Disseminate results of surveillance, analyses of health outcome data, investigations and special requests in the form of presentations and reports, in language suitable for the target audience
• Provide data and information concerning service delivery, and propose practices or policies based on findings that will preserve or promote public health
• Provide epidemiological analysis or interpretation of data and information for persons having responsibility for program or policy
• Consult with department program staff by advising on data methodology and available data resources
• Participate in drug overdose outbreak investigations as needed
• Respond in cases of urgent and/or emergent events that require public health interventions. Employees may be trained for and assigned duties unrelated to their regular work; work outside normal business hours and workdays and/or in a different work location may be required. Emergency events include, but are not limited to, communicable disease outbreaks, severe weather situations (e.g. snow or ice storms, tornados, hurricanes), natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes), fire, or power outages, and acts of terrorism.

Experience
Minimum Qualifications
Minimum of two years of experience in a related field.
Education
Master's degree in public health (MPH, MSPH) Epidemiology or related public health or life science field.
Combination of relevant education and relevant experience accepted?: Yes
Licenses and Certifications

• Requires a valid North Carolina or South Carolina Driver's License
• Requires County Driving Privileges

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with state or local government public health epidemiology program

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities
Knowledge of

• Epidemiology methods, especially descriptive and applied epidemiology related to communicable, chronic or environmentally induced diseases, maternal child health, or injury control
• Public health data, databases and related information sources; public health surveillance systems
• Data analysis, data collection, questionnaire design
• Data visualization and packaging for decision making and target audience understanding
• Best practices for presentation of and reporting on data
• General nature and objectives of statewide public health programs
• The organization and operation of federal, state and local governmental agencies relating to public health

Skills

• Preparing and delivering on request and in a timely manner a variety of written, graphic or oral presentations, reports and documentation related to public health
• Using a computer and related software applications for data analysis and preparing written, graphic or oral presentations and reports of the findings in language appropriate for the target audience
• Incorporating data from a variety of sources to create an overview of a community health issue for presentation and report
• Conducting literature reviews and environmental scans
• Managing data, extracting data, building databases, scrubbing data, merging data sets
• Prioritizing work
• Assessing consumer needs
• Providing customer service

Abilities

• Applied Learning: Assimilating and applying new job-related information in a timely manner
• Independence: Working effectively guided by high-level instructions and minimal supervision
• Collaboration: Working effectively and cooperatively with others; establishing and maintaining good working relationships
• Communication: Clearly conveying information and ideas through a variety of media to individuals or groups in a manner that engages the audience and helps them understand and retain the information provided

Computer Skills

• Proficient use of a variety of computer applications including Microsoft Office Suite, especially Word, PowerPoint and Excel, as well as an additional statistical and data analysis application (SAS, Stata, SPSS, R, EpiInfo, etc)

Reasonable Accommodations Statement
To accomplish this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation, each essential function satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to help enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Disclaimer Statement
This is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of job-related responsibilities, duties, skills, requirements or working conditions. Other duties may be assigned based on business need and the supervisor’s request. Mecklenburg County reserves the right to revise the job description at any time. Designated positions may be required to assist in emergency and/or disaster situations.