Public Health Epidemiologist Supervisor

The Louisiana Department of Health, Office of Public Health, Bureau of Family Health (BFH), in partnership with LPHI, has an opening for a Public Health Epidemiologist Supervisor. BFH works to promote the health of women, children and families in every stage of life. The Bureau administers the state’s Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grant program, the Title X Family Planning program, and multiple other programs, projects, and initiatives designed to monitor and improve the health of pregnant people, newborns, children, teens and adults, and individuals with special health needs. BFH’s mission is to elevate the strengths and voices of individuals, families, organizations, and communities to catalyze transformational change to improve population health and achieve equity.

This position serves as a Public Health Epidemiologist Supervisor within the Data to Action Team (DAT), which is a section responsible for developing and managing the statewide BFH data surveillance, analysis, translation, dissemination and application activities, partnership and community networks, system level actions, and best-practice health promotion strategies to improve health outcomes for families in Louisiana. This position will oversee at least two Public Health Epidemiologists responsible

for conducting epidemiological activities related to collecting, analyzing, validating, evaluating, and interpreting data related to maternal and child health (MCH) populations and children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). This position will provide advanced-level epidemiology support and supervision for the Bureau of Family Health. The Epidemiologist Supervisor will assure pivotal program evaluation methods are executed, expand data collaboration between complementary service providers, and enhance data reporting capacity to meet various stakeholder requirements.

Location: New Orleans, LA

Starting Salary Range: $54,000 - $75,000 commensurate with experience

Duties and Responsibilities:

Interprets, Analyzes, and Evaluates Data (40%)

• Interprets, analyzes, validates, and evaluates data using statistical computer programs.
• Conducts monthly data linkages and collaborates with the LDH Office of Technology Services, Vital Records, Bureau of Health Informatics, and DB Sys graph to develop and enhance data systems, linkages, case identification, and case review related to assigned data systems and programs.
• Manage confidentiality and security of data according to state and federal regulations.
• Serve as Resident data and evaluation expert researching and identifying existing data sources used for, but not collected by, BFH. Assist with establishing appropriate data points in electronic medical records as needed.
• Assists in the development and measurement of health indicators.
• Assists in the preparation of grant proposals to present to various funding agencies for Public Health activities.

Coordinates with Programs and the Community to Move Data to Action (20%)

• Participates in the formulation of policies and programs based on the data collected and analyzed to prevent the spread of disease, injury, disability, etc.
• Oversees coordination between epidemiology staff and Title V programs to provide relevant analyses of available methodologically sound data to assist with program development.
• Provides leadership over direct reports for design, implementation, data interpretation, program monitoring, and evaluation for each 5-year Title V Needs Assessment. Evaluates and monitors changes in needs within the populations between cycles.
• Serves as a technical advisor in the design and execution of interdisciplinary projects.
• Participates in and co-leads assigned Continuous Quality Improvement projects.
• Builds capacity of programmatic staff and junior epidemiologists related to data, measurement, evaluation and analyses.
• Collaborates with executive Title V team to determine program activities based on Needs Assessment results and on enhancing the integration of data tracking requirements as a seamless component of program activities. This may involve actively engaging in data collaboration and analysis with other programs.
• Provides technical assistance to other professionals in government, academia, health care, the community, and the private sector in multi-disciplinary projects and on community health planning teams.
• Coordinates, organizes, and plans community meetings relating to epidemiological activities.
• Discusses and assists in resolving epidemiological issues with community leaders, health professionals and officials, lawyers, legislators, and peers.

Supervises Epidemiology Staff (20%)

• Oversees a minimum of two Public Health Epidemiologists responsible for conducting data collection, analysis, validation, evaluation, and interpretation activities in support of the Federal Title V MCH Block Grant, State Systems Development Initiative, Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems, and other MCH-related activities.
• Cultivates high performing individual contributors and teams. Defines and assesses core competencies required to be successful and mature in the role; aligns recruitment and performance planning with expectations; provides regular and timely coaching, support and accountability; prepares formal summative performance planning and reviews. Approves time, leave, and appropriate use of resources.

Produces Reports, Data Products, and Publications (15%)

• Contributes to the Public Health evidence-base by authoring and/or presenting findings in peer reviewed journals and publications, at state and national conferences as approved, at meetings and webinars, and in evidence-based practice databases. Supports junior epidemiologists in preparing abstracts, manuscripts, and presentations.
• Produces or oversees the production of epidemiological reports for internal and external audiences and reviews them for accuracy and subject content.
• Directs preparation of and response to internal and external data requests in coordination with the BFH DAT analytic section. Validates data analyses for junior epidemiologists before they are sent to the requestor.
• Provides guidance to junior epidemiologists on development and refinement of program and project logic models, work plans, performance measurement and evaluation plans, including, but not limited to mandated performance reports and evaluation reports.
• Works with team to identify opportunities to build self-serve analytics to make data more accessible to partners, community collaborators and the public. This may include, but is not limited to, interactive data dashboards, GIS maps, publications and reports, and fact sheets. Identifies resources needed to implement the recommendations and works with team leadership to implement.

Other (5%)

• Participates in HRSA TA webinars and monthly TA calls with the Evaluation and Project TA specialists for assigned projects and programs.
• Participates in internal staff, project, and professional development meetings and trainings as requested or assigned.
• Serves as liaison for relevant software with LDH-IT.
• Completes other duties as assigned, including support the coordination and management of Emergency Operations during activation and as needed between events.

Required Education and Experience:

• MINUMUM QUALITIFICATIONS: A master's degree in epidemiology plus two and a half years of professional level experience in epidemiology. Other master’s degrees may substitute for the master’s degree in epidemiology if they include 12 semester hours in epidemiology and/or biostatistics of a combination.
• Intermediate to advanced SAS programming skills.
• Evaluation experience –developing and implementing a program evaluation plan, utilizing an identified health equity framework.
• Intermediate to advanced experience with qualitative data analysis.

Preferred Experience and Skills:

• Previous supervisory experience preferred.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate technical information in a non-technical manner.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Strong time management skills and ability to meet deadlines.
• Ability to think proactively and function independently.
• Good organization skills with the ability to manage heavy workloads and multiple tasks.
• Experience working with major statistical software packages including SAS, SPSS, Stata or R.
• Experience producing data dashboards, heat maps, and other self-serve analytic tools.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, and Access.