CDC Drowning and Older Adult Falls 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: A research opportunity is currently available with the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the major operation components of the Department of Health and Human Services. CDC works to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same. For more than 20 years, CDC’s Injury Center has helped protect Americans from injury and violence. We work to understand how injury and violence impact all of us and what we can do to prevent it.
Research Project: Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries in people aged 65 and older and they can lead to significant medical costs, injuries, functional decline, and reduced quality of life. As evidenced by a recent CDC report, more than one in four older adults in the United States reported falling, totaling nearly 36 million falls in 2018. More than eight million of these falls require emergency department care. Further, about 32,000 older Americans who die as a result of these falls. Falls and fall injuries are increasing the U.S. and associated annual medical expenses are about $50 billion. These costs will only continue to surge given the aging of the U.S. population. Drowning is a serious public health problem contributing to nearly 4,000 deaths and over 8,000 emergency department visits in the United States each year. Nonfatal drowning can result in long-term health problems and costly hospital stays. More than 40% of drownings treated in emergency departments require hospitalization or transfer for further care (compared with 8% for all unintentional injuries). Children are at the highest risk of drowning, and drowning is the leading cause of injury death for children 1 to 4 years of age. Further, for every child who dies from drowning, another eight receive emergency department care for non-fatal drowning. Drowning is also a health equity issue; a recent CDC report identified persistent racial and ethnic disparities in drowning death rates in the United States.
The fellow will collaborate with a team to support the Division of Injury Prevention's effort to help older adults age without injury and to prevent unintentional drownings. Specifically, the fellow will support efforts to enhance surveillance, research, and program implementation related to the review and management of modifiable fall and drowning risk factors. Specifically, the fellow might assist the Safety Promotion team on the following activities:
- Collaborate with the Team in developing a business case for evidence-based drowning and clinical fall prevention activities
- Analyze data on older adult falls and drownings
- Provide technical support for implementation, use, and evaluation of falls prevention and drowning activities
- Pursue opportunities to educate and incentivize clinicians, health systems and other organizations for integrating fall and drowning prevention
- Participate in analyzing, interpreting, and publishing on fatal and non-fatal injury data to estimate the overall health and economic impact of falls, drownings, and other injuries
- Review and report on the health and economic burden related to unintentional injuries
Learning Objectives:
- Analyze injury data for older adult falls, drownings and other injury topics.
- Present scientific analysis through presentations and publications.
- Design scientific studies to better understand risk and protective factors for injury.
Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Dr. Gwen Bergen (gjb8@cdc.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor(s).
Anticipated Appointment Start Date: August 15, 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.
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.NCIPC@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 by the end of August 2022. Degree must have been received within the past five years.
Preferred skills:
- Self-motivated and able to complete activities independently
- Strong writing skills
- Excellent oral skills
- Strong project management skills
- Ability to synthesize research and public information quickly and concisely
- Ability in using statistical software (e.g. SAS, R, SPSS) for quantitative analysis
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