Epidemiology Assistant Jobs in Decatur, GA (NOW HIRING)

Emory University is a leading research university that fosters excellence and attracts world-class talent to innovate today and prepare leaders for the future. We welcome candidates who can contribute to the excellence of our academic community.

The research team of Dr. Aaron Siegler (Bio: https://sph.emory.edu/profile/faculty/aaron-siegler) in the Epidemiology Department at Emory University is seeking to hire multiple positions, including a Senior Public Health Program Associate to work on several NIH-funded studies in HIV prevention epidemiology and digital health intervention research across local and/or international settings.

These studies include:

1. Establishing a PrEP Epidemiology, Modeling and Surveillance System (PREMISE), a study to support the development of consistent national HIV Pre-ExposureProphylaxis (PrEP) data to describe its patterns of use, and to understand which programs and policies are effective at facilitating PrEP uptake in the US.

2. Improving telePrEP initiation and retention outcomes in the US: The MISTR+ study, an NIH-funded series of clinical trials to support the development of low-touchinterventions (such as tailored messaging) and testing their effectiveness on PrEP initiation and retention outcomes.

3. The Elección (Choice) Cohort: Developing and testing a scalable, platform-agnostic digital intervention in Peru, an NIH-funded clinical trial to improve understanding of the factors associated with HIV acquisition and PrEP uptake; and evaluate the preferences for and effectiveness of an adapted digital health messaging intervention (mHealth) among men in Peru.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Independently uses a specialized knowledge of, and experience, with public health principles to analyze, develop, implement, and promote solutions to public health issues/problems.
• Collects and analyzes data.
• Prepares proposals, protocols, data analysis plans, reports, manuscripts, and presentation of study findings.
• Addresses public health issues by providing education, technical assistance, advocacy, public awareness, and research.
• Works with programs or studies designed to evaluate the prevalence or surveillance of public health issues and the effectiveness of targeted interventions.
• May coordinate clinical study sites to ensure compliance with patient recruitment and data collection standards.
• May provide technical assistance to organizations to include presentations, websites, strategies, and educational forums to address specific public health issues.
• May design, develop, and conduct targeted training initiatives.
• May collaborate with external organizations to develop action plans and goals to achieve specific objectives.
• Identifies new potential projects, studies or partners.
• Performs related responsibilities as required.

ADDITIONAL JOB DETAILS:

The Program Associate will have the opportunity to work on multiple projects as described above, with specific work distribution depending on experience and interests. The Program Associate may have the opportunity to contribute to other ongoing projects in Dr. Siegler’s research lab, co-author manuscripts, and present scientific work at national/international scientific conferences if interested.

Key Responsibilities:

• Under limited supervision, support the coordination and implementation of Research Protocols, including tracking timelines, deliverables, and project milestones
• Assist with day-to-day project management activities to ensure successful execution of project objectives
• Coordinate meetings and follow-up activities with internal and external project collaborators
• Conduct frequent written and verbal communication with internal and external project collaborators
• Assist with data collection, management, and analysis
• Assist with documentation of project activities including protocols, IRB submissions/reviews, and other project-related reports
• Contribute to proposals, protocols, data analysis plans, reports, manuscripts, and presentation of study findings
• Perform other related responsibilities and/or project-related tasks as required

The position will be based at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The initial appointment is for 2 years, and renewal is anticipated if performance is satisfactory and funds remain available.

Detailed Project Description:

PREMISE
To reach Ending the Epidemic (ETE) targets, we will need consistent national HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) data to describe patterns of use, and to understand which programs and policies are effective at facilitating PrEP uptake. This NIH-funded study aims to build on our history of developing public PrEP data resources and innovative metrics of PrEP use in PREMISE (PrEP Epidemiology, Modeling, and Surveillance), a collaborative and interdisciplinary group that will use national PrEP data, along with legal and policy coding, to inform the US HIV epidemic response. The study will conduct analyses regarding the scope of PrEP scale-up over time and will perform analyses to explore the impact of different locality-specific programs and policies on PrEP use

MISTR+
Our study (MISTR+) seeks to establish an evidence base for telehealth and improve health outcomes in terms of PrEP care initiation, retention and re-engagement for the over 100,000 users of this service by (1) developing a series of low-touch interventions based on existing evidence and new data analyses of telePrEP electronicrecords data, (2) testing interventions, and (3) enhancing our understanding of intervention performance through machine learning and cost-effectiveness analysesthat will inform intervention prioritization.

Elección
The HIV epidemic in Latin America is concentrated among MSM. As the number of HIV prevention options grows, it is critical to build interventions that empower individuals to make HIV prevention choices that fit their lives; this requires delineating and addressing barriers, elucidating individual preferences, and providing accessible prevention options. Remote access to health services and information may overcome many challenges of traditional clinic service delivery models. The Elección study will improve our understanding of health determinants for HIV incidence and the prevention and care cascades in Peru. The study will build a cohort to assess HIV incidence and its predictors and to identify intervention preferences. We will adapt and test a digital intervention grounded in participant choice to improve HIV prevention service uptake. Specifically, we will develop an observational HIV incidence cohort (Aim 1), implement discrete choice experiments and use the ADAPT-ITT model to inform adaptation of an evidence-based intervention to the Peruvian setting (Aim 2), and transition cohort members into the clinical trial (Aim 3). Participants will be randomized to either the adapted version of the digital intervention (M-Cubicado) or to observation-only follow-up (standard of care).

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• A master's degree in Public Health, a master of science degree in Public Health or Health Education, or a master's degree in Development Practice and three years of relevant applied public health experience OR a master's degree in another field and four years of public health experience.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• MPH in Epidemiology, Biostatistics, or other relevant field; or a Master’s degree in another field and at least 1-4 years of public health experience.
  
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
  
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to foster a good working relationship with both internal team members and external collaborators.
  
• Experience in project management and coordination of public health research studies and/or clinical trials.
  
• Proficiency in data management and analysis using SAS, R, or other statistical software.

NOTE: This role will be granted the opportunity to work from home regularly but must be able to commute to Emory University on a flexible weekly schedule based upon business needs.  Schedule is based on agreed upon guidelines of department. This role requires residency in the state of GA. Emory reserves the right to change remote work status with notice to employee.

Emory is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by state or federal law. Emory University does not discriminate in admissions, educational programs, or employment, including recruitment, hiring, promotions, transfers, discipline, terminations, wage and salary administration, benefits, and training. Students, faculty, and staff are assured of participation in university programs and in the use of facilities without such discrimination. Emory University complies with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veteran's Readjustment Assistance Act, and applicable executive orders, federal and state regulations regarding nondiscrimination, equal opportunity, and affirmative action (for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities). Inquiries regarding this policy should be directed to the Emory University Department of Equity and Civil Rights Compliance, 201 Dowman Drive, Administration Building, Atlanta, GA 30322. Telephone: 404-727-9867 (V) | 404-712-2049 (TDD).

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