Zoonotic and Emerging Disease Epidemiologist, Bureau of Communicable Diseases

Job Description The Division of Disease Control’s mission is to safeguard the health of New Yorkers through identification, surveillance, treatment, control, and prevention of infectious diseases, which is achieved through varied and interrelated endeavors of its seven Bureaus. The Bureau of Communicable Disease (BCD), part of the Division of Disease Control, is responsible for the surveillance, prevention, and control of over 70 infectious diseases including foodborne, enteric, waterborne, respiratory (including COVID-19), zoonotic, and vector-borne diseases.

This position is in the Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Disease Unit (ZVDU) within the Bureau of Communicable Disease (BCD). ZVDU is responsible for overseeing the surveillance for new, high profile, and emerging zoonotic and vector-borne diseases in people and animals that are reportable in New York City. Human diseases include, but are not limited to, leptospirosis, dengue, chikungunya, Lyme disease, and babesiosis, and certain high-profile diseases such as legionellosis, West Nile virus, cyclosporiasis, rabies and avian influenza.

Animal diseases reportable to ZVDU include H5N1 and other avian influenza virus, brucellosis, rabies, New World screwworm, and leptospirosis. ZVDU is recruiting an experienced epidemiologist and data analyst. The person will have experience in epidemiology, data management, and analysis as well as participate in a wide range of activities, with an emphasis on zoonotic and emerging diseases. They will be a collaborative partner working closely with the Division of Environmental Health, the Public Health Laboratory, and local, state, and federal partners.

DUTIES WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO: - Develop and enhance surveillance practices, including updates, and develop as needed, disease case investigation protocols and standardized investigation case forms - Conduct case investigations and other activities required for the routine surveillance of new and emerging zoonotic and vector-borne diseases in humans and animals - Oversee case and contact investigations (people and pets) related to emerging and zoonotic diseases - Oversee and ensure the collection, management and analysis of quality data for surveillance and research - Manage relevant ZVDU data within Maven (the main database used in BCD) and work with Maven staff to integrate changes, updates and functionalities as needed - Work on analytic projects and respond to data requests as needed - Develop and maintain protocols related to avian and novel influenza and other new and emerging zoonoses for contact tracers, on-call physicians, and BCD staff including questionnaires, data entry tools, and trainings - Work collaboratively with colleagues in Environmental Health to conduct surveillance and research activities - Participate in outbreak investigations of a suspected or confirmed zoonotic diseases in humans or animals as well as animal morbidity and mortality events - Participate in large BCD outbreak investigations as needed - Supervise seasonal college interns - Participate in outreach to the medical and veterinary communities - Contribute to the development and implementation of community outreach and education - Understand and address cultural differences, health inequities and disabilities when interacting with a diverse population in the workplace and the general public - Respond to all Citywide emergencies as part of the Incident Command Structure PREFERRED SKILLS: - Experience with disease surveillance, infectious diseases, and database management - Ability to work independently and in teams to collect and analyze data, including leading outbreak and cluster investigations - Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to interpret data and convey concepts clearly and concisely - Proficiency with SAS (programming and analysis) or other analytic software, Adobe Acrobat, and MS Office software; ability to learn new data systems quickly, document in the data s