Chronic Disease Epidemiologist

If you’re looking to be a part of a collaborative environment where your skills can make an impact, explore our current opportunities in creating a better future for public health.

About Harris County Public Health:

Harris County Public Health (HCPH) includes a network of more than 1,100 public health professionals working together to improve health outcomes for the third most populous county in the United States. HCPH provides a multitude of services such as medical and dental services, community programming, and health education for the approximately 2.3 million people in unincorporated Harris County. Through its core values of innovation, engagement, and health equity, HCPH strives to bring meaningful solutions to public health issues while keeping Harris County healthy and vibrant.

Position Overview:

Under the supervision of the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Supervisor, the Chronic Disease Epidemiologist applies principles of Epidemiology to chronic diseases and associated risk factors. There is an emphasis on identifying and analyzing existing data sources; planning and implementing new data collection strategies; conducting research, analyzing, and interpreting data to measure the burden of chronic conditions and their risk factors; writing reports and disseminating findings to a variety of audiences; representing the agency/unit at meetings and conferences; and assessing disparities in chronic disease outcomes and evaluating health inequities among residents of Harris County.

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Conducts data analysis, creates chronic disease information summaries, and writes comprehensive reports for periodic release.

• Conducts spatial analysis to determine hot spots in Harris County for public health interventions and assist in drafting scientific manuscripts and abstracts for public health conferences. Special topics include but are not limited to long term impacts of COVID-19 and maternal and child health.

• Builds upon existing resources, implements and maintains an ongoing and robust chronic disease surveillance system for Harris County, Texas.

• Identifies, obtains, and as necessary, submits requests for federal, state and local health data sources concerning chronic diseases. 

• Cleans, manages, analyzes, and interprets such data as well as internal program data.

• Participates with other divisions and offices to identify needs as related to epidemiological investigation. 

• Serves on a variety of agency wide committees that may focus on chronic disease, long term impacts from COVID-19, injury and violence prevention, drug use prevention, etc. and assists with grant writing where needed.

Education:

• Master's degree in one of the Public Health disciplines such as Public Health, Statistics, Epidemiology, or Health Policy or PhD in a science-related field.

Experience:

• At least one (1) year of experience conducting data analysis working with chronic disease data in public health related area, such as local health department, college or university public health project, clinical or public health laboratory, disease surveillance, or statistical project.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Proficient with Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, and Access

• Proficient with statistical analysis software (STATA, R studio, SAS or SQL)

• Excellent organizational skills and communication skills (verbal & written)

• Ability to write reports and technical papers

• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and foster teamwork in a diverse environment

• Ability to maintain confidentiality when dealing with sensitive information

• Ability to work well with public and staff members

• Use your personal mobile device for our Multifactor Authentication process

Core Competencies

Organizational Leadership

• Understands the organizational mission

• Understands ethics and public good; is concerned with public trust

• Demonstrates respect for the opinions and beliefs of others

Collaboration

• Contributes to an inclusive workplace where equity, diversity, inclusion, and individual differences are valued and leveraged to achieve the vision and mission

• Demonstrates a sense of responsibility for the success of the group

• Collaborates with others to improve quality and address needs

Innovation

• Ability to adapt to change

Interpersonal Abilities/Personal Characteristics

• Treats others with courtesy, sensitivity, and respect

• Behaves in an honest, fair, and ethical manner

• Assesses and recognizes own strengths and weaknesses

• Uses sound judgment

• Self-motivated

• Organizes and maintains work environment to allow for maximum productivity

Communication

• Communicates clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing

Position Type and Typical Hours of Work:

• This is a full-time position.

• Days and hours of work are typically Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.

• Other days and hours as necessary.

Work Environment:

This job operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

Physical Demands:

This is a largely sedentary role; however, some duties would require the ability to lift up to 20 pounds and bending & standing for periods at a time.

Work Location:

Harris County Public Health

Office of Epidemiology, Surveillance and Emerging Diseases

1111 Fannin St. Houston, Texas, 77002