Epidemiologist

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.

• 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

• 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
• Expertise in the application of qualitative and quantitative research, research ethics, evaluation and quality assurance principles and knowledge of current public health issues and best practices
• 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
• Knowledge and understanding of the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) and Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) and how these apply to the collection, storage, use and retention of Public Health data

Responsibilities

• 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 defining and prioritizing health needs to guide divisional and departmental strategic initiatives
• Creates and manages statistical processes, datasets, metadata and coding to conduct complex manipulation of large datasets for population health assessment, surveillance and research
• Leads epidemiological support for outbreak management and annual departmental planning and reporting
• Collaborates with the Planning and Evaluation Advisor and Data/Health Analyst to support program and intervention planning and evaluation, research, and knowledge exchange

Translates complex information into a variety of formats intended for various lay and professional audiences (30% of time)

• Critically evaluates and synthesizes data into internal and public-facing reports and other forms of communication (such as technical reports, presentations, infographics, journal articles, and abstracts)
• Develops and maintains data visualization products that integrate multiple data sources to present results in a meaningful and appropriate format to meet business requirements and audience needs
• Leads the promotion, use and integration of epidemiological evidence for program and service planning, monitoring and evaluation
• Prepares and delivers presentations on trends in population health status and epidemiological research for staff, external agencies and organizations, researchers, and the public
• Provides expertise and critical information to facilitate the uptake of knowledge by local-decision makers (such as Regional Council and its committees), health professionals, and community groups through the presentation of findings, education sessions and one-on-one interactions, as required

Provides functional expertise and guidance to staff, external agencies and organizations, the media, and the public in the areas of surveillance, population health assessment, biostatistics, research, evaluation, and data governance (20% of time)

• Informs the design and leads in the documentation of governance stewardship, policies, procedures and standards to ensure data quality, integrity, accessibility throughout the data lifecycle
• Advises the Medical Officer of Health/Associate Medical Officer of Health, Directors, Managers and frontline staff on risks, concerns and challenges in the distribution of data products by conducting risk assessments and developing strategies to mitigate data-related risks, while applying relevant privacy regulations
• Delivers specialized consultation, training and support for Niagara Region staff and external agencies and organizations concerning best practices in surveillance methods, information and reporting tools, and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases
• Provides expertise on research and evaluation methods, ethical research practices, complex survey design, data collection and acquisition, and interpretation of epidemiologic studies
• Leads continuous quality improvement initiatives related to existing data and knowledge handling processes
• Collaborates with local public health units, research and provincial/national health organizations, academic institutions, health systems, and external agencies and organizations on the development of surveillance methods and population health data to guide internal decision-making
• Supervises and mentors students, trainees or outside researchers and mentors relevant junior members of staff

• Regional staff strive to enable the strategic priorities of council and the organization through the completion of their work. Staff carry out their work by demonstrating the corporate values.
• May be required to support emergency operations under the incident management structure, at the direction of the Emergency Operations Centre Director.