Fund for Public Health in New York
291 Broadway, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10007
Phone: (212) 266-7820  Fax: (212) 693-1856  www.fphny.org
Job Title:
City Research Scientist 4a: Statistician/Epidemiologist
Organization:
Position Reports to:
Fund for Public Health in New York - NYC Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene – Bureau of Epidemiology Services
Methodology Unit Director
Bureau of Epidemiology Services
STATISTICIAN/EPIDEMIOLOGIST: SYNDROMIC SURVEILLANCE (EPI)
Methodology Unit, Bureau of Epidemiology Services
The Bureau of Epidemiology Services (BES) within the New York City Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene is a multidisciplinary group with the goal of applying cuttingedge epidemiologic and other analytic methods to public health practice. BES works
closely with the Data Analysis and Syndromic Surveillance Unit of the Bureau of
Communicable Disease (BCD) on the development and operation of the syndromic
surveillance system – a near real-time system utilizing data of emergency department
visits, calls for emergency medical services, pharmacy over-the-counter and prescription
sales, outpatient provider visits, and school health nurse visits. A nearly 10-year
historical dataset provides the opportunity to enhance the methodology applied to these
data.
The City’s increasing reliance on these systems to provide timely and accurate
measures and notifications of aberrations highlights the integral role that syndromic
surveillance has in citywide public health surveillance. We seek also to inform the
national understanding of the state-of-the art of both daily and seasonal surveillance for
clusters or outbreaks of potential public health concern.
In collaboration with The Fund for Public Health in New York (FPHNY), a not for profit
corporation serving as program partner with DOHMH to implement and advance public
health initiatives, NYC DOHMH BCD is seeking a Computational Statistician or
Epidemiologist.
Responsibilities
The BES Methodology Unit seeks someone with strong computational, statistical and
epidemiologic skills who will work on a 3-year project to evaluate our current syndromic
data and methods, review and identify traditional and emerging analytic methods that
can be applied to outbreak detection and other uses of NYC syndromic data, and assess
and implement updated or new methodologies to each syndromic system’s data. The
project leader will collaborate with existing syndromic analysts and assume a technical
leadership role on methods and their implementation.
Specific Duties
– Collaborate with Syndromic Surveillance Program Director and Project Director to
guide project.
– Identification, implementation, and evaluation of temporal and spatial-temporal
outbreak detection methods and other surveillance approaches.
– Lead preparation of manuscript(s) on potential new methods for syndromic
surveillance.
– Providing analytical support for current syndromic surveillance system.
– Participating in conferences, meetings, and seminars to present the results of research
on and evaluation of these innovative surveillance systems.
– Providing expertise and consultation within the Bureau of Epidemiology Services to
other programs within the agency as needed.
Interested applicants should have extensive training in Statistics, Biostatistics, or
Epidemiological Methods such as time series analysis, spatial statistics, and/or bayesian
modeling methods; understanding of approaches to analyzing local or regional
surveillance data, ability to work with large datasets using SAS, R, or other statistical
packages; and creativity to consider innovative applications of analytic methods for the
rich though limited information provided by syndromic systems.
PREFERRED SKILLS
Interested applicants should possess the following:
 Extensive training in statistics, biostatistics, or epidemiological methods.
 Expertise in the use of SAS.
 Ability to adapt methods from the current research literature.
 Experience in the design, management and analysis of public health
databases or syndromic surveillance systems.
 Excellent writing, speaking ability and strong interpersonal communication
skills.
 Knowledge of infectious disease epidemiology.
 Experience in consulting on research design.
 Experience working with administrative records.
QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
1. A doctorate degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an
appropriate field of epidemiology or statistics and one year of full-time experience in a
responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the appropriate field of
specialization; or
2. A master’s degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an
appropriate field of epidemiology or statistics and three years of responsible full-time
experience in the appropriate field of specialization, including one year of full-time
experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the
appropriate field of specialization; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to “1” or “2” above. However, all
candidates must have a master’s degree in an appropriate field of specialization and one
year of full-time experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative, or research
capacity as described in “2” above.
SALARY AND BENEFITS:
FPHNY offers a comprehensive benefits package. The salary range for this position is
$79,496 to $103,109, dependent upon experience and salary history.
TO APPLY:
To apply, send Resume, with Cover Letter, to kkonty@health.nyc.gov AND
tnguyen@health.nyc.gov indicating “Syndromic Epi Research Analyst_your name”
in subject line.
The Fund for Public Health in New York, Inc, is an Equal Opportunity Employer
and encourages a diverse pool of candidates to apply.