Job Opening - Health Scientist (Informatics) - Los Angeles, CA

ISDS would like to share a recently released employment opportunity from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Please find all details below.

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Position Title:           Health Scientist (Informatics)

Department:             Department of Health and Human Service

Agency:                     Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Service:                     Excepted Service Position, Title 42

Duty Location:         Los Angeles, CA (1 vacancy)

Duration:                   2-Year Term Position

Salary Range:          $85,000 - $101,035

INTRODUCTION

This position is a scientific position, with an emphasis on public health informatics.  This is a standard position and can be located in various Centers/Institutes/Offices throughout CDC/ATSDR.  The primary purpose of the position is to develop scientific policies for public health informatics and to perform a variety of activities and analyses related to health care informatics.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Develops and implements scientific policies and procedures on informatics practices and principles.  Provides leadership in designing, coordinating, and maintaining information technology (IT) project goals, objectives, and priorities within a CIO and/or CDC/ATSDR and in the general public health community.  Serves as a nationally and internationally recognized expert, providing scientific advice and consultation on solutions to critical problems that require outstanding creativeness in generating new hypotheses, approaches, and standards to be used within the applicable CIO, across CDC/ATSDR and in some instances to be used internationally.  Develops and coordinates the sharing of health related informational materials so that scientific advice and assistance is shared. Develops strategies to meet short and long-range goals for the applicable program and assures that strategies reflect most promising directions in research, preventive, and clinical approaches as it relates to public health informatics.  Applies new methods, approaches, and technology to new and unusual situations and these methods have broad applications in the field.  Collaborates and provides expert scientific advice to a variety of nation-wide and international organizations to synthesize, develop and implement informatics policies and directions for future development.  Collaborates with and provides expert advice to all organizational levels with the agency, as well as with various state health agencies, and partner organizations.  50%

Provides leadership in the development, testing, implementation and evaluation of scientific information technology and information systems needs and applicable software systems relating to public health informatics within the area of responsibility.  Explores alternatives, suggestions and approaches from internal and external partners, focusing on data acquisition/multi-jurisdictional databases, communication directories, and standardization codes.  Plans and develops strategies for new models of health information interchange and automation in medicine and public health.  Responsible for evaluating and developing approaches for strengthening the standardization and utility of national health information systems, their products, policies and processes, with special emphasis on electronic data interchange and electronic media.  Promotes the development, use and dissemination of information and information technology in regards to health data systems, with an emphasis on public health applications.    50%

Performs other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

Specialized experience is experience which is directly related to the position which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) to successfully perform the duties of the position to include:  (1) provide scientific advice, consultation and leadership in designing, coordinating and maintaining public health informatics project; (2) conduct evaluations and analyses for the purposes of developing recommendations to leadership on issues related to public health informatics; (3) design, oversee, implement, and conduct scientific surveys/studies or projects to identify and solve health system related problems; and (4) manage projects through administrative, planning, and budgetary activities.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics):

• Knowledge of public health theories, principles, concepts.
• Ability to provide scientific advice, consultation and leadership in designing, coordinating and maintaining public health informatics, more specifically Health IT related project goals, objectives and priorities.
• Ability to communicate to various audiences and subject matter experts on scientific and technical information.
• Skill in the application of administrative, planning, budgetary, human resources management, contracting and related programs.
• Ability to design, oversee, implement, and conduct scientific surveys/studies or projects to identify and solve health system related problems.
• Ability to communicate in writing. 

All interested applicants should email their resume to Tracie Strength:

Tmd9@cdc.gov

With a subject line of: Health Scientist, LA County

Resumes will be accepted through March 12, 2013

Request for Proposals: Pilot Project for Public Health Case Reporting Using C-CDA

National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO)  along with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) announce a funding opportunity for state and local health departments to participate in a pilot project for the implementation of public health case reporting from electronic health records (EHR) to public health agencies using Consolidated Clinical Data Architecture (C-CDA).

CDC and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) Standards and Interoperability (S&I) Framework, Public Health Reporting Initiative (PHRI) are working to reduce the reporting burden on healthcare providers and public health agencies by harmonizing data elements across public health domains and developing a standardized data structure through the implementation of C-CDA. The PHRI has produced two work products: a set of harmonized data elements and a C-CDA library of templates for several public health conditions, which will be tested and demonstrated at pilot site(s). This pilot will help determine if and how the PHRI products can serve as resources to facilitate implementation of public health case reporting from clinical providers to public health agencies.  

If interested, please submit an application to Monica Huang mhuang@cste.org at the CSTE National Office by Friday, March 15, 2013.

Please click here for additional background information and instructions (pdf) »

IEEE Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI) 2013

Call for Papers and Workshop Proposals

June 4-7, 2013, Seattle, WA, USA

THEME: Big Data, Emergent Threats and Decision-Making in Security Informatics

HOST: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Conference website: http://ISIconference2013.org/

Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI) research is an interdisciplinary research field involving academic researchers in information technologies, computer science, public policy, bioinformatics, and social and behavior studies as well as local, state, and federal law enforcement and intelligence experts, and information technology industry consultants and practitioners to support counterterrorism and homeland security missions of anticipation, interdiction, prevention, preparedness and response to terrorist acts. The annual IEEE International ISI Conference series was started in 2003. Meetings have been held in Tucson, AZ (twice); Atlanta, GA; San Diego, CA; New Brunswick, NJ; Taipei, Taiwan; Dallas, TX; Vancouver, Canada; and Beijing, China, and Washington D.C. Proceedings of these ISI meetings and workshops have been published by the IEEE Press and in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series.

ISI 2013 will be organized in three main streams focusing on

• Big Data in Security Informatics
• Emergent Threats
• Decision-Making in Security Informatics

Submissions may include systems, methodology, test-bed, modeling, evaluation, and policy papers. Research should be relevant to informatics, organization, or public policy in applications of counter-terrorism or protection of local/national/international security in the physical world or cyberspace. Topics include but are not limited to:

Big Data in Security Informatics

• Information Sharing and Data/Text Mining Intelligence-related knowledge discovery
• Computer or cybercrime investigations and digital forensics
• Criminal investigative criteria and standard of procedure on Computer crime
• Criminal data mining and network analysis
• Forecasting crime and the impact of crime
• Criminal/intelligence information sharing and visualization
• Crime pattern recognition and modeling tools
• Web-based intelligence monitoring and analysis
• Spatial-temporal data analysis/GIS for crime analysis and security informatics
• Deception and intent detection
• Cyber-crime detection and analysis
• Authorship analysis and identification
• Applications of digital library technologies in intelligence data processing, preservation, sharing, and analysis
• Agents and collaborative systems for intelligence sharing
• HCI and user interfaces of relevance to intelligence and security
• Information sharing policy and governance
• Privacy, security, and civil liberties issues
• Intelligence-computerized community security and surveillance system

Emergent Threats

• Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Responses
• Cyber-Physical-Social system security and incident management
• Cyber-infrastructure design and protection
• Intrusion detection
• Bio-terrorism tracking, alerting, and analysis
• Bio-terrorism information infrastructure
• Transportation and communication infrastructure protection
• Border/transportation safety
• Law Enforcement decision support systems
• Emergency response and management
• Disaster prevention, detection, and management
• Communication and decision support for search and rescue
• Assisting citizens' responses to terrorism and catastrophic events
• Computer forensics and crime lead discovery
• Anti-fraud information technology
• Terrorism Informatics
• Terrorism related analytical methodologies and software tools
• Terrorism knowledge portals and databases
• Terrorist incident chronology databases
• Terrorism root cause analysis
• Social network analysis (radicalization, recruitment, conducting operations), visualization, and simulation
• Forecasting terrorism
• Countering terrorism
• Measuring the impact of terrorism on society
• Measuring the effectiveness of counter-terrorism campaigns
• Crime intelligence and cyberspace crime investigation
• Immigration and security

Decision-Making in Security Informatics

• Enterprise Risk Management and Information Systems Security
• Information security management standards
• Information systems security policies
• Behavior issues in information systems security
• Fraud detection
• Cybercrime and social impacts
• Corporate going concerns and risks
• Accounting and IT auditing
• Corporate governance and monitoring
• Board activism and influence
• Corporate sentiment surveillance
• Market influence analytics and media intelligence
• Consumer-generated media and social media analytics

IMPORTANT DATES

• Paper submission due date: March 11, 2013 (Extended from February 15, 2013)
• Notification of acceptance: April 8, 2013
• Due date for Workshop proposals: February 18, 2013

PAPER SUBMISSION
Submission file formats are PDF and Microsoft Word. Required Word/LaTeX templates (IEEE two-column format) can be found at the conference Web site. Long (6,000 words, 6 pages max) and short (3000 words, 3 pages max.) Papers in English must be submitted electronically via the conference Web site. The accepted papers from ISI 2013 and its affiliated workshops will be published by the IEEE Press in formal Proceedings. IEEE ISI Proceedings are EI-indexed. Authors who wish to present a poster and/or demo may submit a 1-page extended abstract, which, if selected, will appear in Proceedings. The selected IEEE ISI 2013 best papers will be invited for contribution to the Springer Security Informatics journal. The deadline for paper submissions is February 15, 2013. Paper submission instructions and template information can be found at on the Submissions page at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ieeeisi2013.

Best papers awards will be given in three categories:

• Best paper
• Runner-up paper
• Best student paper
• Runner-up student paper.

WORKSHOPS
In conjunction with ISI 2013, several workshops will be held on June 4, 2013.Special-topic workshops in any areas of Intelligence and Security Informatics research and practice are welcome. Such events will be an integral part of the ISI-2013 conference program. Proposals in PDF or Microsoft Word not exceeding 3 pages should be emailed to the conference organizing committee at antonio@pnnl.gov by February 18, 2012 and contain the following information.

• Title of tutorial/workshop
• Preferred duration (half day vs. full day)
• Brief bios of proposed instructor(s)/organizer(s)
• Objectives to be achieved
• Scope of topics to be covered
• Target audience and the list of potential presenters/contributors

AMIA - Public Health Informatics Workgroup Webinar Series

Public Health Informatics Workgroup Webinar Series

AMIA and the AMIA Public Health Informatics Work Group are planning a series of webinars on timely issues in public health and population health informatics. The webinars will include information from relevant experts and an opportunity for questions and interaction with all participants. These webinars are open to both AMIA members and non-AMIA members for no charge. 

The Data and Informatics Needs of the Recent Meningitis Events

Date – February 12, 2013

Time – 12:00 Noon EST

At least 44 people have died and more than 678 people in 19 states have become ill from fungal meningitis, epidural abscesses, and other infections after receiving contaminated steroid shots made by the New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts.   Public health response to these events required coordination among multiple Federal and State organizations, recommendations for the management of possible and confirmed cases and strong patient and physician communications. This webinar will focus on data and informatics needs of this event and what capabilities could facilitate similar responses in the future.

Speakers:

Janet J Hamilton, MPH
Disease Control and Health Protection
Bureau of Epidemiology
Florida Department of Health

Marion Kainer, MD MPH FRACP
Director, Healthcare Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance Program
Tennessee Department of Health

J. Todd Weber, MD
Incident Manager, CDC Response to Multistate Outbreak of Fungal Meningitis and Other Infections 
Chief, Prevention and Response Branch
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, NCEZID
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

To participate – Register beforehand at: 

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/526283406

AMIA aims to lead the way in transforming health care through trusted science, education, and the practice of informatics. AMIA connects a broad community of professionals and students interested in informatics. AMIA is the bridge for knowledge and collaboration across a continuum, from basic and applied research to the consumer and public health arenas. One of the five domains supported by AMIA is the Public Health Informatics Working Group. Public Health Informatics is the application of informatics in areas of public health, including surveillance, reporting, and health promotion.

BioSense Redesign Webinar: Review of BioSense 2.0 Application Features 2/1/13

On Friday, February 1^st from 1:00 – 2:00 EDT, BioSense Redesign will present a review of some of the technical features of the BioSense 2.0 application.  The webinar will include a 30 minute presentation of Data Sharing and Customized Searches, followed by 30 minutes for general questions.  Presenters and panelists will include Nabarun Dasgupta, Clark Freifeld, Mike Alletto, Paula Soper, and Barbara Massoudi of the BioSense Redesign Team, and Sharon Campolucci and Brian Lee from CDC. 

Please register for the 2/1/13 webinar using this link:  https://cc.readytalk.com/r/46z5wjx5jz0b

Note: The webinar will be recorded and posted to the Collaboration Site.

If you have not already done so, please take a moment to register for our other upcoming webinars:

• Follow-Up R Training Webinar for BioSense 2.0, January 22nd from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. EDT

Registration Link: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=kqtro72tuxfo

• HL7 Messaging Webinar, January 30th from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. EDT

Registration Link: https://cc.readytalk.com/r/nb9l91pv7ibu

Upcoming CSTE Webinar - IHR in the U.S. - 2/5/13

CSTE Webinar: The International Health Regulations

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ET

Description:
CSTE will be holding a webinar on the International Health Regulations (IHR) on Tuesday, February 5, at 2 pm ET in follow-up to a 2012 assessment on state experiences with the IHR. This webinar is intended to raise awareness about the purpose and functions of the IHR in the U.S. and will focus on the assessment and reporting of potential Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC). Presenters will summarize key findings from the assessment on state awareness and implementation of the IHR, provide an overview of the IHR, and describe a specific event that was notified to WHO as a potential PHEIC.

Presenters:
Dr. Stephen Ostroff, MD
Formerly of Pennsylvania Department of Health

Katrin S. Kohl, MD, PhD, MPH/DTM
Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC

Aaron T. Fleischauer, PhD, MSPH
CDC Career Epidemiology Field Officer, North Carolina Division of Public Health

To participate in this webinar, you must REGISTER HERE by Monday, February 4.

After registration, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the session. Please check the WebEx system requirements before the webinar and contact WebEx Support for technical troubleshooting.

Background on IHR:
The International Health Regulations (IHR) are a binding agreement accepted by all Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO), including the U.S. The IHR are intended to enable early detection and rapid notification of potential Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEIC) to allow for a globally-harmonized response to minimize the spread of disease across international borders. Obligations for IHR implementation lie with the federal government. In the U.S., the reliance of the federal government on state and local public health jurisdictions for the implementation of public health programs and surveillance was acknowledged in a reservation to the IHR. Oversight of the U.S. government-wide implementation of the IHR lies with the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has designed a process of assessing health events in the U.S. for potential reporting to WHO under the IHR. Information about events is primarily in the hands of local and state public health partners.

NYC DOHMH Job Posting: Syndromic Surveillance Informatics Manager

Job Title: Syndromic Surveillance Informatics Manager

Civil Service Title: Computer Systems Manager

Proposed Salary Range: $49,492.00 - $81,903.00 (Annual)

Work Location: 42-09 28th Street, Long Island City, NY

Division/Work Unit: IT Solutions and Delivery

Job Description: The Informatics Unit is an innovative operational unit within the Bureau of Informatics and Development responsible for implementation activities and strategic planning of large scale city-wide critical systems and infrastructure including NYC Syndromic Surveillance Reporting. The Unit liaises and coordinates with NYC hospital electronic medical records IT staff to implement upgrades and enhancements for data quality and timeliness of syndromic reporting. In addition, NYC DOHMH is taking on a new initiative to integrate with CDC’s BioSense system in order to track syndromic data and response activities across jurisdictions. The Syndromic Surveillance Informatics Manager, under the direction of the Director of Informatics and Data Services, with great latitude for independent thinking, will be responsible for implementing and overseeing the following activities: 

• Act as the main IT point of contact with NYC area hospitals regarding transmission of syndromic surveillance data and meeting Meaningful Use requirements.

• Work with NYC Hospital EDs to implement syndromic reporting for those that are currently not reporting.

• Liaise with NYC-area hospitals to implement electronic reporting of syndromic surveillance emergency department data from non-standard methods to standard HL7 formats consistent with Meaningful Use.

• Coordinate transition of data transmission of ED data to HL7 standards that are consistent with Meaningful Use requirements, including work with BCD Syndromic staff to test new HL7 file data quality and timeliness, as compared to existing methods.

• Possess strong analytic skills along with the technical skills needed to work with large data systems and strong working knowledge of SAS (SAS eBI 9.2,  Proc SQL, Macros) and SQL (Database server Application), is required. Ability to program in capacity in SSRS or ability to learn SSRS is a plus.

• Extensive knowledge working with HL7 messages and HL7 parsing tools as well as XML messages and XML framework.

• Identify data quality issues independently or in coordination with BCD Syndromic Surveillance unit.

• Identify, troubleshoot and resolve issues with interruptions in reporting from NYC hospitals to DOHMH.

• Escalate reporting issues to Informatics and BCD Syndromic Surveillance unit.

• Work with NYC hospitals to improve data quality and timeliness of syndromic ED reports.

• In coordination with DIIT technical staff and BCD Syndromic data analysts, design a central database for syndromic ED data.

• Investigate methods to electronically submit data to BioSense.

• In coordination with DIIT application developers and BioSense technical team, design a method to report NYC Syndromic ED data to BioSense.

• Ability to utilize Geographic Information Systems tools (GIS) such as ESRI and ArcGIS Server to assist surveillance programs to map ELR data.

• Examine other electronic data sources linked to syndromic surveillance and identify methods to improve data quality.

• Use knowledge of syndromic surveillance to collaborate with colleagues on various data matching and surveillance projects.

• Escalate reporting issues to Director of Informatics and DOHMH surveillance programs as necessary.

• In addition, the Syndromic Surveillance Informatics Manager will prepare presentations, manuscripts, and reports describing initiatives, systems, methodologies and results as well as participate and represent DOHMH in conferences, meetings and seminars.

For complete information regarding Minimum Qualification Requirements and Preferred Skills, visit the full Job Posting on the NYC Gov Careers Site.

To Apply: 

Apply online with a cover letter to https://a127-jobs.nyc.gov/.  In the Job ID search bar, enter: job ID number #113535.

Posting Date: 11/26/2012
Post Until: Until Filled