Public Health Analyst- U.S. Virgin Islands

The Overdose Response Strategy (ORS) is an initiative designed to enhance public health-public safety collaboration and strengthen efforts to reduce drug overdose deaths.  The ORS is funded by CDC and the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to help communities reduce fatal and non-fatal drug overdose rates by improved information sharing across public health and public safety agencies, and by supporting evidence-based intervention. 

As of July 2021, there are ORS Public Health Analyst (PHA) and Drug Intelligence Officer (DIO) positions in 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. PHA positions are funded by CDC through the CDC Foundation and DIO positions are funded by ONDCP through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program. These state teams form the foundation of the ORS and work to promote overdose prevention and response efforts, and increase communication, data flow, and intelligence sharing between public safety and public health within and across ORS states.  

The CDC Foundation seeks candidates for a full-time PHA to support the ORS. This position will support efforts of the U.S. Virgin Island Department of Health, Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands HIDTA, and other key partners in the development and implementation of drug overdose information sharing systems and evidence-based prevention programs.

The PHA will begin working remotely as a result of COVID-19, but will ideally sit at the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health located in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Responsibilities 

• Facilitate data sharing and joint initiatives between public health and public safety agencies and organizations that are designed to address illicit drug use and overdose
• Collaborate with assigned state DIO to build partnerships between local HIDTA program(s) and public health entities
• Identify and promote promising overdose prevention interventions at the intersection of public health and public safety in assigned state
• Support and evaluate public safety-led interventions designed to connect people who use drugs to care and treatment
• Present to diverse audiences on overdose trends and local response efforts
• Support projects that enhance public health/public safety collaborations through the identification of appropriate local partners, qualitative and quantitative data collection, and dissemination of project findings
• Develop specialized knowledge of significant drug use and overdose trends in assigned state
• Responsibilities may also include: 
  • Conduct overdose, drug use, and drug availability related data analyses on behalf of partner agencies, as needed
  • Create data visualizations on drug usage and overdose trends
  • Build partnerships with community members and stakeholders by providing technical assistance and support through communications and one on one assistance, as well as connecting partners to additional resources
  • Develop and conduct trainings to diverse audiences on overdose prevention best practices to enhance response efforts (including but not limited to the development of presentations, one-pagers and other training materials)
  • Explore and support additional projects that enhance public health/public safety collaborations through communication, information sharing, education, and partnership building
  • Develop products for site partners such as briefs, bulletins, reports, brochures or other educational materials
  • Support and evaluate public health and public safety interventions

Qualifications 

• Master’s degree in public health, the social sciences or a related field and minimum of 1 year of relevant experience or Bachelor’s degree in public health, the social sciences or related field and minimum of 3-5 years of relevant experience
• Professional experience or demonstrated interest in substance use disorder treatment, harm reduction, drug policy and/or public health and public safety partnership

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including public-speaking, presentation and listening skills
• Demonstrated ability to work well independently and within teams
• Ability to work effectively with diverse partners, including law enforcement professionals
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Familiarity with public health infrastructure within the state the position is located
• Must be able to pass a formal federal background investigation, at no cost to the applicant
• Additional qualifications may include: 
  • Experience in data collection and analysis, and developing written materials with actionable recommendations
  • Strong quantitative data analysis skills and experience working with SAS, SPSS, STATA or a similar statistical software package
  • Experience working collaboratively with diverse stakeholders and engaging in strategic partnerships
  • Experience in developing and implementing training events
  • Experience in program/project coordination
  • Experience in developing reports, briefings and other written materials for internal and external partners
  • Experience in program evaluation, including logic model development