Epidemiologist

**Division**:
Health Promotion and Foundational Standards

**Important Notices & Amendments**:
**Please note: This role is eligible for the Hybrid Work Policy, whereby the incumbent would be eligible to work 50% of their time at home and 50% of their time in office.**

**Temporary Duration**:
Approximate Duration: 12-18 months

**About Us**:
Serving a diverse urban and rural population of more than 475,000, Niagara Region is focused on building a strong and prosperous Niagara. Working collaboratively with 12 local area municipalities and numerous community partners, the Region delivers a range of high-quality programs and services to support and advance the well-being of individuals, families and communities within its boundaries. Nestled between the great lakes of Erie and Ontario, the Niagara peninsula features some of Canada’s most fertile agricultural land, the majesty of Niagara Falls and communities that are rich in both history and recreational and cultural opportunities. Niagara boasts dynamic modern cities, Canada’s most developed wine industry, a temperate climate, extraordinary theatre, and some of Ontario’s most breathtaking countryside. An international destination with easy access to its binational U.S. neighbour New York State, Niagara attracts over 14 million visitors annually, as well as a steady stream of new residents and businesses.

At Niagara Region, we value diversity - in background and experience. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We aspire to hire and grow a workforce reflective of the diverse community we serve. By doing so, we can deliver better programs and services across Niagara.

For the Region's full employee equity statement, Working at Niagara Region - Niagara Region, Ontario.

**Don’t have every qualification?**

**Job Summary**:
Reporting to the Manager, Public Health Analytics and Informatics the Epidemiologist is responsible for providing expertise in surveillance, including outbreak detection and support, population health assessment, biostatistics, research, evaluation and data governance for Public Health and Emergency Services. The Epidemiologist makes a significant impact on public health decisions using critical thinking to analyze and identify community health needs. The Epidemiologist provides leadership and direction to a diverse group of professionals to ensure strong uptake of evidence into decision-making that will increase the department's impact on health and health equity.

**Education**:

- Post-secondary degree in a health related discipline
- Master’s degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, public health or a related field
- Knowledge of biostatistics as determined by undertaking relevant undergraduate or preferably post-graduate courses or equivalent certification is preferred

**Knowledge**:

- At least five years of experience conducting epidemiological studies/data analysis in a public health or related setting
- Advanced knowledge and skills in epidemiological and statistical methods, such as descriptive and inferential statistics using a variety of software (such as STATA, SPSS, SAS, R, Excel), along with business intelligence and data visualization tools such as PowerBI
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and strong English written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to present ideas clearly and concisely; explain work to non-technical clients and stakeholders
- Knowledge of and experience in acquiring data from public health reporting systems (such as the Integrated Public Health Information System [iPHIS] and IntelliHealth Ontario)
- Experience in leading clinical, epidemiological and/or health services research projects and/or experience in health planning and decision support with leadership skills to oversee team members and analysts carrying out epidemiological projects

**Responsibilities**:
**_ Leads, consults, and implements epidemiological studies on the health status of Niagara residents and translates this knowledge to key Public Health stakeholders to enable data driven decision making (50% of time)._**:

- Identifies and makes recommendations to address emerging issues and trends related to health status and related determinants of various population groups
- Provides epidemiological expertise and consultation to Medical Officer of Health/Associate Medical Officer of Health, Directors, Managers and frontline staff on public health data systems and evidence-informed decision-making
- Develops and measures the performance of benchmarks and metrics to monitor the impact of divisional and departmental work on the health of Niagara residents using a variety of public health reporting systems (such as iPHIS, IntelliHealth Ontario, Better Outcomes Registry & Network), large-scale, population health monitoring datasets (such as the Canadian Community Health Survey or the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey) and internally developed survey data
- Establishes and implements criteria for defin