CDC Birth Defects Surveillance and Research Fellowship
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A complete application consists of:
- An application
- Transcripts – Click here for detailed information about acceptable transcripts
- A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
- One educational or professional recommendation. Your application will be considered incomplete, and will not be reviewed until one recommendation is submitted.
All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.
*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.
CDC Office and Location: Two research opportunities are currently available in the Division of Birth Defects and Infant Disorders (DBDID) within the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.
NCBDDD's mission is to improve the health of children and adults by preventing birth defects and developmental disabilities, and complications of heredity blood disorders; promoting optimal child development, and the health and wellness among children and adults living with disabilities.
Research Project: Participants will train within the Birth Defects Monitoring and Research Branch (BDMRB). The BDMRB conducts birth defects surveillance and research into the possible causes and long term outcomes of birth defects, intervention and prevention activities.
Under the guidance of a mentor, participant training involves some or all of the following:
- Literature searches
- Participation in surveillance and research projects
- Translation of scientific research and data into consumer-focused materials
- Development and evaluation of social media
- Website management
- Use of statistical software, analyses of data and summarization of findings
- Intervention and prevention activities
- Utilization of MarketScan or other claims or health record data
- Assessing risk factors for birth defects and the long term morbidity and mortality of infants born with birth defects
- Verbal and written presentations of epidemiologic studies or surveillance activities at scientific conferences
- Preparation of scientific manuscripts, posters, presentations, and fact sheets, and other information
Learning Objectives: The purpose of this fellowship program is to provide an educational experience to individuals interested in the field of public health and reproductive and birth defects epidemiology. Opportunities are aimed at furthering the health communication science, epidemiological and analytical knowledge of participants.
Participants are assigned to train on various projects and can expect to gain valuable learning experiences in the development, implementation, and evaluation of health communication campaigns, surveillance and research study management, database cleaning, data analyses, intervention, prevention strategies, interpretation of the results, writing manuscripts and giving oral presentations.
Mentor(s): The mentor(s) for this opportunity is Laura Pabst (lnw9@cdc.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor(s).
Anticipated Appointment Start Date: July 1, 2022. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.
Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of CDC and is contingent on the availability of funds.
Level of Participation: The appointment is full-time.
Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience.
Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR), and foreign nationals. Non-U.S. citizen applicants should refer to the Guidelines for Non-U.S. Citizens Details page of the program website for information about the valid immigration statuses that are acceptable for program participation.
The successful applicant(s) will be required to comply with Environmental, Safety and Health (ES&H) requirements of the hosting facility, including but not limited to, COVID-19 requirements (e.g. facial covering, physical distancing, testing, vaccination).
ORISE Information: This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and CDC. Participants do not become employees of CDC, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.
The successful applicant(s) will be required to comply with Environmental, Safety and Health (ES&H) requirements of the hosting facility, including but not limited to, COVID-19 requirements (e.g. facial covering, physical distancing, testing, vaccination).
Questions: Please visit our Program Website. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process please email ORISE.CDC.NCBDDD@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.
The qualified candidate should have received a master's degree in one of the relevant fields, or be currently pursuing the degree with completion before the appointment start date. Degree must have been received within five years of the appointment start date.
Preferred skills:
- Strong writing, verbal, and interpersonal skills
- Experience in qualitative and quantitative research using SAS, SPSS, R, SUDAAN or other statistical software; with reference management software; with claims data (Marketscan, HCUP, Medicaid Max), or other large datasets
- Experience in communication principles, methods, practices, techniques, and analytical methods to execute and measure health communication campaigns and outreach efforts
- Background in epidemiology or maternal and child health
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