Careers

Description:

These positions support priority surveillance capacity for responding to COVID-19 and other conditions of public health significance. Incumbents will contribute to these response missions by participating in the design and management of surveillance systems, proposing and/or initiating epidemiological investigations of communicable disease outbreaks, clusters, pandemics and other adverse health outcomes through analysis of data, and interpreting those analyses to guide public health action, and coordinating with internal and external partners at the local, state, and federal levels to support surveillance activities. As necessary, these positions will support public health emergency preparedness and response activities within the Agency.

The Dashboard Epidemiologist Supervisor directs the work of the surveillance dashboard epidemiologists which are responsible for:

• Disseminating scientific and public health information through designing, developing and modifying new, and maintaining and modifying existing visualizations and dashboards.
• Designing and developing new internal and/or public facing dashboards, data visualizations and associated descriptive text, and downloadable data tables.
• Daily maintenance of DOH surveillance dashboards and their mobile and county versions with troubleshooting and modifications.
• Investigating and resolving identified data quality, visualization, or dashboard performance issues.
• Writing associated descriptive text and technical/data notes/methods for new or existing data products including but not limited to dashboards, reports or visualizations.
• Modifying the back-end dashboard data tables and developing PowerBI DAX scripts for new and existing dashboard visualizations.
• Producing documentation for the dashboard back-end data model and specific tables for the dashboards.

The Report Epidemiologist Supervisor directs the work of the surveillance dashboard epidemiologists which are responsible for:

• Disseminating scientific and public health information through writing and editing new, and maintaining and modifying existing, surveillance reports and other data products.
• Producing daily data files to update public facing DOH surveillance dashboards.
• Investigating and resolving identified data quality issues.
• Modifying reporting R scripts, analyses, and desk manuals/process documents to address requested changes to routine data products.
• Analyzing and evaluating surveillance data to respond to ad hoc requests and questions about the epidemiologic data.
• Performing biostatistical analyses of health data, e.g., analysis of variance, trend analysis, multiple logistic regression, survival analysis, etc.
• Reviewing and interpreting surveillance data to inform public health action.

These are full-time project, home-based positions within the Division of Disease Control and Health Statistics (DHCS), Office of Public Health Outbreak Coordination, Informatics and Surveillance (PHOCIS) and is funded through July 31, 2023. Incumbents can also work from a home-based location outside of Washington State.

DCHS is a community health partner using innovative methods to provide quality health information, vital records, and assessment services for taking public health actions, developing public health policy, and conducting assessment activities to improve the health of the people of Washington.

The responsibilities of the PHOCIS office align directly to Goal 1 of the Agency Strategic Plan (2017-19 Update) that calls to “Protect everyone in Washington from communicable diseases and other health threats.”

About the Department of Health
The vision of the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) is equity and optimal health for all. Our mission is to work with others to protect and improve the health of all people in Washington state.

Our Values
Good organizations know what they do and how they do it. Great organizations also understand why they do it. Our values are:

• Human-centered: We see others as people who matter like we do and take into account their needs, challenges, contributions, and objectives.
• Equity: We are committed to fairness and justice to ensure access to services, programs, opportunities, and information for all.
• Collaboration: We seek partnership and collaboration to maximize our collective impact. We cannot achieve our vision alone.
• Seven Generations: Inspired by Native American culture, we seek wisdom from those who came before us to ensure our current work protects those who will come after us.
• Excellence: We strive to demonstrate best practices, high performance, and compelling value in our work every day.

Benefits of Working for DOH
Washington is America’s Top State, according to U.S. News (2021), and provides one of the most competitive benefits packages in the nation.

We also offer:

• A healthy life/work balance by offering flexible schedules and telework options for many positions.
• Growth and development opportunities.
• A wellness program that offers education, access to healthy food, and fitness classes.
• Opportunities to serve your community through meaningful work.
• A commitment to diversity and inclusion fosters an inclusive environment that encourages all employees to bring their authentic selves to work.
• An Infant at Work Program based on the long-term health values of breastfeeding newborns and infant-parent bonding.
• A modernized workplace.

Required Qualifications

• Option 1: A Master’s degree in epidemiology

OR

• Option 2: A Master’s degree in public health or a closely allied field including 12 graduate quarter hours or equivalent (500 level or above) in epidemiology and 12 graduate quarter hours or equivalent in biostatistics.

And

• Two (2) or more years of experience working in a public health agency or a similar setting.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience in the following (both positions):

o Communicating effectively in writing on technical and non-technical levels.
o A PhD in epidemiology or a closely allied field including 12 graduate quarter hours or equivalent (500 level or above) in epidemiology and 12 graduate quarter hours or equivalent in biostatistics.
o Supervising one or more employees.
o Data confidentiality and IT security.
o Familiarity with the principles of outward mindset

Reports Epidemiologist Supervisor

• Experience effectively performing data analysis with R and using statistical software.

Dashboard Epidemiologist Supervisor

• Experience effectively performing data visualizations with PowerBI.