Cross-Cutting Surveillance Epidemiologist

SUMMARY

Under the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) cooperative agreement Heluna Health and the Infectious Diseases Branch (IDB) of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) are recruiting for an Epidemiologist to be part of the Disease Investigations Section.

Under the direction of the Chief of the Disease Investigations Section (DIS) in the Infectious Diseases Branch (IDB) the Cross-Cutting Surveillance Epidemiologist (SE) will support California Department of Public Health Infectious Diseases Branch (IDB) efforts to improve surveillance coordination and response to infectious disease cases and outbreak investigations including but not limited to enteric pathogens Legionella botulism viral hemorrhagic fevers and other emerging or high consequence infectious diseases. The SE will conduct cluster and outbreak investigations in collaboration with internal and external public health partners by coordinating case-finding data collection and analysis and by communicating investigation findings through meetings conferences and written reports. The position will plan and conduct epidemiologic studies using public health surveillance data and provide consultative analytic support to other staff members within the section. The SE will support other cross cutting activities by developing dashboards protocols education/outreach materials and contributing to grant reports and applications. The SE will also interact with numerous CDPH programs and other CA state departments LHDs the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to perform essential functions.

As needed this position will also support other projects including but not limited to enhanced surveillance projects outbreak investigations and surge efforts.

This full-time temporary position is grant funded through 07/31/2026 but may be extended if funding is available.

The salary range is $88404.00 - $113064.00 per year depending on experience and qualifications.

A cover letter and resume must be submitted with the application.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Support CDPH subject matter experts for reportable diseases including Legionella enteric pathogens botulism viral hemorrhagic fevers and other emerging or high consequence infectious diseases.
• Coordinate multijurisdictional cluster and outbreak investigations statewide for infectious and other emerging diseases of public health importance which includes conducting case-finding hypothesis-generating coordinating data collection and patient interviews conducting analytic studies collaborating with external and internal partners and communicating investigation findings via meetings conferences and written products to internal and external public health partners.
• Support the assessment and revision of infectious disease case report forms to strengthen data quality and align with ongoing CDPH data modernization efforts.
• Support the development and improvement of databases to store surveillance data and leverage for reports and analyses
• Evaluate quality and completeness of surveillance data and implement plans for surveillance data quality improvement.
• Design conduct and interpret epidemiologic and biostatistical analyses of public health surveillance and hospitalization data using statistical software (e.g. SAS R SQL Python) to understand risk factors for reportable infectious diseases assess trends and inform the implementation of relevant prevention and control measures.
• Publish epidemiological analyses on various pathogens and trends.
• Support the development of dashboards and data visualizations for infectious disease surveillance data including outbreak monitoring.
• Assist in trainings and provide consultation on use of analytic methods and data analysis software to team members to improve and modernize analytic capacity within the branch
• Assist with modernization efforts to improve data collection systems (i.e. REDCap) for diseases of public health importance including the collection of outbreak investigation data.
• Participate in writing and submission of annual grant applications and complete quarterly progress reports performance measures and other deliverables as required.

NON-ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• This position is considered a cross-cutting epidemiologist position and emergency response position; the epidemiologist may be deployed to other programs or Local Health Departments (LHDs) to assist with public health emergencies and may be required to work extended hours and/or on weekends during outbreak/emergency response.
• Perform other duties as directed by the DIS Chief including: serving as CDPH Center for Infectious Diseases (CID) Duty Officer serving as editor for the weekly Communicable Disease (CD) Brief participating in hiring panels for new staff supervising interns responding to media and public records requests and providing back-up for emerging infectious disease outbreaks and/or release of botulism antitoxin.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Formal training in epidemiology.
• Experience investigating foodborne and/or other communicable disease outbreaks.

• Knowledge and application of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements and protection of health information.

• Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing with public health and healthcare professionals and internal partners including through formal participation at national conferences.
• Ability to provide health education and communicate basic infectious disease information to interviewed patients and members of the public.
• Ability to create and administer surveys perform data entry data cleaning and data quality assessment with attention to detail.
• Familiarity with interpretation of whole genome sequencing (WGS) results and ability to use genomic epidemiology data to inform outbreak investigation efforts.
• Expertise in infectious disease surveillance and complex statistical analysis with advanced proficiency in statistical software such as R SAS SQL or Python
• Extensive experience with surveillance systems
• Familiarity with writing proposals for national grant applications including identifying funding priorities for large and complex budgets and coordinating grant applications.
• Prior experience leading public health data analyses including drafting reports or publishing public health manuscripts.
• Completes assignments in a timely and efficient manner.
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks and work well independently and with a team.
• Fluency in spoken English; fluency in Spanish or other languages preferred but not required.

Education/Experience

• Master of Public Health degree or equivalent required.
• At least two years of post-degree experience with epidemiology and data analysis required.
• At least 2 years of subject matter experience for outbreak response required.
• Experience working with protected health information and maintaining patient confidentiality required.
• Demonstrated expertise conducting statistical analyses beyond descriptive summaries using tools such as R SAS SQL and/or Python required.
• Experience conducting interviews with patients or research participants preferred.
• Experience with state and local health department workforce capacity building for cluster detection and response preferred.
• Proficiency in mapping and cluster detection tools including SaTScan and ArcGIS with experience in direct application to outbreak response activities preferred

Certificates/Licenses

N/A

Other Skills Knowledge and Abilities

• Knowledge of and skilled in the use of Microsoft Office products including Word Excel Outlook PowerPoint and Access required.
• Experience with public health oral and written communication including to diverse technical and general audiences required
• Knowledge of and experience with statistical analysis software (R SAS SQL Python and/or equivalent) required.
• Knowledge of and experience with building surveys and managing associated project data (e.g. REDCap Survey Monkey Microsoft Forms Access) preferred.
• Knowledge and use of data visualization software (Tableau Power BI R) preferred.
• Familiarity with data storage platforms (e.g. Snowflake) preferred.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

• Stand Frequently
• Walk Frequently
• Sit Frequently
• Handling / Fingering Occasionally
• Reach Outward Occasionally
• Reach Above Shoulder Occasionally
• Climb Crawl Kneel Bend Occasionally
• Lift / Carry Occasionally - Up to 30 lbs
• Push/Pull Occasionally - Up to 30 lbs
• See Constantly
• Taste/ Smell Not Applicable

KEY

• Not Applicable Not required for essential functions
• Occasionally (0 - 2 hrs/day)
• Frequently (2 - 5 hrs/day)
• Constantly (5 hrs/day)

WORK ENVIRONMENT

General Office Setting Indoors Temperature Controlled

Remote work option available but residency in California required. Must have functioning Wi-Fi at remote location.

Some travel to local jurisdictions throughout California to provide epidemiologic support may be necessary. Must have reliable transportation to travel to local jurisdictions. Travel will be reimbursed.

EEOC Statement

It is the policy of Heluna Health to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to age (40 and over) national origin or ancestry race color religion sex gender sexual orientation pregnancy or perceived pregnancy reproductive health decision making physical or mental disability medical condition (including cancer or a record or history of cancer) AIDS or HIV genetic information or characteristics veteran status or military service.