Epidemiologist

Job Description

Job Summary:

• This position is in the Office of Informatics & Analytics (OIA) within the Tennessee Department of Health.
• The primary responsibility of the Epidemiologist will be to advance data analytics information for a range of audiences.
• This individual will primarily work to expand our capabilities supporting the Controlled Substance and Monitoring Database (CSMD), Tennessee’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) data.
• We are seeking a skilled and analytical professional to join our public health surveillance and prevention team as an Epidemiologist focused on prescription data.
• The epidemiologist will collect, manage, and analyze data related to prescription drug use, misuse, and overdose to support evidence-based public health responses.
• The role includes producing actionable insights from the Controlled Substance and Monitoring Database (CSMD) Tennessee’s prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMP).
• Utilizing CSMD data, Hospital Discharge data, and Vital Statistics data for data linkage.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Support evaluations of overdose prevention and interventions such as prescribing limits, naloxone distribution, and provider education programs.
• Create provider education materials in support of prevention activities
• Produce a report specific to buprenorphine and create visualization products for dissemination.
• Collaborate with public health officials, program staff, and external partners to develop actionable insights.
• Perform statistical analysis to identify trends, hotspots, and risk factors for drug overdose.
• Create dashboards and reports for internal and external stakeholders.
• Work with epidemiologists, program managers, and healthcare providers to inform prevention and intervention efforts.
• Ensure data quality, security, and confidentiality in line with HIPAA, applicable data governance policies and other regulations.
• Contribute to grant applications, research studies, and presentations as needed.

Requirements:

• Master’s degree in public health, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Data Science, or related field.
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in public health and analytics.
• Proficiency in analytical and visualization tools (e.g., R, SAS, Stata, Python, and Tableau).
• Strong SQL skills and familiarity with relational databases.
• Experience linking different datasets.
• Ability to communicate complex data findings to non-technical audiences.
• Knowledge of public health data sources and overdose surveillance systems.