Careers

Description:

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health announces that it is now accepting applications for its next class of Urban Health Policy Fellows. This two-year paid fellowship in urban health policy is designed specifically for those with baccalaureate degrees in public health. During the program, Urban Health Policy Fellows will work directly with senior leaders of one of the nation’s most innovative health departments on high priority projects, while receiving on-the-job training in public health policy development. The fellowship will begin in early July 2021, and continue through June 2023.

The City
Philadelphia, an exciting and diverse city of 1.6 million people, has some of the leading educational and medical institutions in the country. Over decades, the city has lost many traditional manufacturing jobs and now has the highest poverty rate of any big city in the nation. Philadelphia residents have high rates of health problems associated with poverty, including smoking, obesity, drug use, and asthma. With the City economy improving in recent years, the health department has an obligation to help all City residents enjoy the health benefits of that recovery.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH), with some 900 staff and a budget of $350 million, promotes and protects the health of all Philadelphians and provides a safety net for the most vulnerable. The agency leads programs to prevent communicable diseases; prevent chronic diseases and promote healthy behaviors; prevent environmental health risks; investigate outbreaks of disease; respond to public health emergencies; and promote the health of women, children, and families. In addition, the department operates eight primary care clinics. PDPH has been on the vanguard of public health, proposing policy solutions to problems like smoking and obesity, and intends to continue that tradition with creative solutions to both long-standing urban health problems and new crises. Most recently, PDPH has taken the lead on the City of Philadelphia’s response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Urban Health Policy Fellowship

Urban Health Policy Fellows will work on priority health issues that the City is facing. Examples include opioid addiction and overdose, smoking, obesity, HIV, lead poisoning, childhood asthma, and innovative use of electronic health record data. Fellows will work on teams addressing issues such as these, and will be assigned specific projects that help the agency understand the problem, engage with stakeholders, develop policy solutions, recruit support for interventions, and/or implement policies.

To ensure that the experience is broad, Fellows will rotate among different Divisions in the health department over the two-year program. In addition, Fellows will learn about the entire agency by attending management meetings and participating in small-group sessions with internal and external public health experts.

You are eligible to apply if you have graduated in the last two years (or before July 1, 2021) from a
college or university in the United States with a baccalaureate degree and a major in public health,
global health, or community health. Please note, this opportunity excludes those with advanced
degrees.

To apply, electronically submit:

• A cover letter describing why you are interested in the fellowship;
• A resume that summarizes your educational experience, your work experience, and your skills
with data analysis;
• A 3-5 page sample of your writing (for example, a paper that you wrote for a class assignment or
an article that you wrote for a school publication);
• An undergraduate transcript (unofficial is fine); and,
• The names and contact information for two persons who can serve as references, one of whom is
a faculty member and one of whom served as a supervisor for a work or internship experience.

The deadline for the application is Friday, February 26 2021; applications should be sent to
UPHFellow@phila.gov. Please note that we expect to hire two Fellows in total.