Epidemiologist

Epidemiologist

Location: Toronto661 University

Department: Data Digital Governance & Standards

To provide professional epidemiologic services to areas including infection prevention and control communicable disease prevention and control chronic disease and injury prevention environmental and occupational health emergency preparedness and public health laboratory services in alignment with the strategic priorities of Public Health Ontario.

Key Responsibilities

• Designs and coordinates population health assessment and/or surveillance dataextraction processes to provide timely information to PHO and its key stakeholders either as part of regular reporting activities or on an asneeded basis for special purposes.
• Prepares current data to enable and support decisionmaking processes for PHO and its stakeholders; responds to requests from stakeholders.
• Provides expertise to support the programs and services epidemiologic research population health assessment and surveillance activities of PHO geared at generating scientific and technical knowledge for evidence based communication decision making planning and implementation of public health policies and programs.
• Identifies appropriate data sources and monitors current local provincial national and international trends in epidemiologic activity and reports in a timely manner.
• Designs and conducts complex data retrievals to meet health information requirements from key stakeholders reporting obligations (e.g. to PHAC MOH) and to support the conduct of epidemiologic research and routine operations.
• Provides subjectmatter expertise and resource support to PHO colleagues.
• Liaises as necessary with stakeholders and resources in various health sector research and regulatory institutions and builds strong working relationships between these and PHO.
• Presents findings initiatives and relevant PHO activities at local regional national and international forums as appropriate.
• Liaises with government public health research and academic institutions to contribute to and keep appraised of best practices in surveillance methodology information and reporting tools.
• Prepares scientific and technical publications to communicate trends investigative findings and research initiatives to internal audience and the broader public health community as appropriate.

Knowledge and Skills

• Knowledge of public health information systems such as the Integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) and Panorama.
• Experience writing reports and extracting data using provincial solutions such as iPHIS Reporting (Cognos) PEAR and IntelliHealth
• Knowledge of and skills in disease surveillance research statistics disease control and public health and working with infectious and noninfectious diseases data sources running surveillance systems procuring data preparing reports and editing reports with scientific rigour.
• Experience informing public health policy and practice having contributed to the introduction and implementation of new initiatives.
• Knowledge of and skills in methods used routinely for analyzing data including sample size calculations comparison of categorical and continuous data stratification and pooling of odds ratios multivariate analysis.
• Knowledge and understanding of relevant regulations and regulatory trends in epidemiology public health and surveillance.
• Knowledge of microbiology laboratory operations and surveillance.
• Knowledge of PHOs mandate and its role in the public health system as well as relevant legislation such as the HPPA and PHIPA and the Ontario Public Health Standards.
• Familiarity with local public health unit disease of public health significance data and reporting practices would be an asset
• Skills in managing large databases and personal health information and analyzing these data using statistical software packages.
• Organizational and project management skills to prioritize effectively and meet competing deadlines
• Skills in organizing a research study from conception through design to reporting.
• Ability to critically evaluate and synthesize relevant sources of information.
• Communications and interpersonal skills to work with a diverse stakeholder group building public health research academic institutional government and professional networks.
• Oral communication skills to discuss detailed data needs in response to enquiries regarding health data and related information systems from management and staff across the PHO.
• Writing and editing skills to prepare and review PHO reports briefing notes letters manuscripts and position papers.
• Presentation skills to communicate complex data and principles to a variety of stakeholders at varying literacy.
• Oral communication and interpersonal skills to liaise and communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders establish and maintain good working relationships.
• Written communication skills to prepare written reports and to display statistical data in understandable formats.
• Communication and interpersonal skills to enable effective information presentation and deployment into teams of multidisciplinary professionals.

Education and Experience

• Masters degree in epidemiology community health or related field.
• Minimum 2years of experience as an epidemiologist in a public health or related setting.

Attributes and Competencies

• Maintains contact with content experts throughout the PHO to discuss their epidemiologic needs and advise on methods to organize access and disseminate the data.
• Maintains collaborative efforts with content experts throughout the public health and research fields to ensure continuity of information flow and currency with best practices.
• Liaises with professional organizations and institutions to promote the practice of epidemiology and advocate for continuing development of the profession.
• Evaluates the quality and comprehensiveness of client satisfaction in the provision of epidemiologic content and expertise.
• Works with research partners on the planning implementation and reporting of research studies.
• Works within the parameters of department policies and guidelines.
• Collects analyzes and collates necessary information to inform evidencebased decision making.
• Identifies challenges with existing data and ensures caveats are effectively communicated so as to frame in the proper context of evidence evaluation.
• Ensures that decisions are effectively documented so as to provide contextual and historical records.
• Works collaboratively with internal and external partners to ensure wherever possible decision are made with consensus and with full understanding of implications and impacts.
• Under general direction ensures that all epidemiologic products and data provided meet all internal standards for data quality and clarity.
• Under general direction ensures that all epidemiologic data and reports are subject to routine and sufficient editorial review prior to dissemination.
• Works closely with internal and external stakeholders to assess the impact of impending releases and assists in preparing contingency plans for such releases.
• Supports Departments data quality assurance efforts to identify errors or limitations in the data.
• Participate in internal and external committees directed at developing principles practices skill building or professional development.

Duration: Contract (Fixed Term) 12 month(s)

Hours of Work: Full time 36.25 hours per week

Compensation Group:Association of Management Administrative and Professional Crown Employees of Ontario

Salary :$78122.00 $109985.00

Posting Date:

Closing Date:

Please note: applications will be received no later than 11:59pm on the date preceding the closing date as indicated on the Job Requisition.

Note: Internal candidates will be considered first.

While we thank all applicants for their interest only those selected to move forward in the recruitment process will be contacted. Any information obtained during the course of recruitment will be used for employment recruitment purposes only and not for any other purpose.

PHO is committed to ensuring equity in employment. Our goal is to create a diverse inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve and to ensure our services and communications are accessible to all individuals. Any candidate who requires a job posting in an alternative format may email a request to Once an applicant has been selected for an interview they can inform PHO about any accommodations they may require at any stage of the interview process.