Epidemiologist

**JR101426**

**Epidemiologist**

**Location**:Toronto-661 University

**Department**:Communicable Disease

**The Role**:
To provide professional epidemiologic services to areas including infection prevention and control and communicable disease prevention and control, in alignment with the strategic priorities of Public Health Ontario. This role supports data analyses and project work related to joint federal and provincial Sexually Transmitted and Bloodborne Infections (STBBI) surveillance and epidemiology initiatives.

**Key Responsibilities-**
- Contributes to joint federal and provincial Sexually Transmitted and Bloodborne Infections (STBBI) surveillance and epidemiology initiatives, including but not limited to:

- Contributing to the provincial input to national estimates of progress towards global HIV and hepatitis C elimination targets;
- Verifying, entering, analyzing, and summarizing data related to HIV, hepatitis C and other STBBI;
- Providing expert interpretation of findings based on knowledge of data sources, situational awareness, and the literature;
- Preparing various knowledge products (e.g., epidemiological updates, presentations, briefing notes) and communicates findings clearly in verbal and in written form;
- Participates in STBBI enhanced surveillance initiatives and outbreak investigations.
- Designs and coordinates population health assessment and/or surveillance data-extraction processes to provide timely information to PHO and its key stakeholders, either as part of regular reporting activities, or on an as-needed basis for special purposes.
- Prepares current data to enable and support decision-making processes for PHO and its stakeholders; responds to requests from stakeholders.
- Provides expertise to support the programs and services, epidemiologic research, population health assessment and surveillance activities of PHO geared at generating scientific and technical knowledge for evidence based communication, decision making, planning and implementation of public health policies and programs.
- Identifies appropriate data sources and monitors current local, provincial, national and international trends in epidemiologic activity and reports in a timely manner.
- Designs and conducts complex data retrievals to meet health information requirements from key stakeholders, reporting obligations (e.g. to PHAC, MOH) and to support the conduct of epidemiologic research and routine operations.
- Liaises as necessary with stakeholders and resources in various health sector, research and regulatory institutions, and builds strong working relationships between these and PHO.
- Presents findings, initiatives and relevant PHO activities at local, regional, national and international forums as appropriate.
- Liaises with government, public health, research and academic institutions to contribute to, and keep appraised of best practices in surveillance methodology, information and reporting tools.
- Prepares scientific and technical publications to communicate trends, investigative findings and research initiatives to internal audience and the broader public health community as appropriate.

**Knowledge and Skills-**
- Knowledge of and skills in infectious disease surveillance, research methodologies, statistics, infectious disease control and working with infectious and non-infectious diseases data sources, running surveillance systems, procuring data, and developing and monitoring indicators.
- Knowledge of infectious diseases and/or STBBIs including HIV/AIDS and their surveillance and epidemiology in Ontario
- Knowledge of, and skills in methods used routinely for analyzing data including sample size calculations, comparison of categorical and continuous data, stratification and pooling of odds ratios, multivariate analysis.
- Knowledge and understanding of relevant trends in epidemiology, public health and surveillance.
- Knowledge of microbiology laboratory operations and surveillance; knowledge related to HIV in these areas is an asset.
- Knowledge of PHO’s mandate, relevant legislation such as the HPPA and PHIPPA and the Ontario Public Health Standards.
- Skills in managing and linking large databases and personal health information and analyzing these data using statistical software packages; good working knowledge of SAS and/or R is an asset.
- Organizational and project management skills to prioritize effectively and meet competing deadlines
- Skills in organizing a research study from conception, through design to reporting.
- Ability to critically evaluate and synthesize relevant sources of information.

**Education and Experience-**
- Master’s degree in epidemiology, community health or related field.
- Minimum 2-4 years of experience as an epidemiologist in a public health or related setting.
- Experience informing public health policy and practice, having contributed to the introduction and implementation of new initiatives.

**Attributes and Competencies-**
- Communication