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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

All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.

If you have questions, send an email to ORISE.FDA.OC.other@orau.org. Please include the reference code for this opportunity in your email.

A fellowship opportunity is available within the Office of Health Communication and Education (OHCE) in the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). CTP aims to protect Americans from tobacco-related death and disease by regulating the manufacture, distribution, and marketing of tobacco products and by educating the public, especially young people, about tobacco products and the dangers their use poses to themselves and others. CTP oversees the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The selected participant will have the opportunity to learn about the Tobacco Control Act and the development and marketing of public health education campaigns to advance the center's communications efforts. 

The selected fellow will have the opportunity to learn about the Tobacco Control Act and the development, implementation, and evaluation of health communication program activities, including national public education campaigns. More specifically, the selected participant will learn about health communication research and evaluation products conducted to support  OHCE. Activities may include:

• Learning about formative research and evaluation of health communication initiatives geared toward various audiences to understand and increase the reach and public health impact of CTP’s messages.
• Learning how to design and execute implementation and outcome evaluation studies of CTP communication initiatives using social science and program theory.
• Learning how to develop and validate measures of campaign exposure, beliefs, and psychosocial predictors of behavior that are targeted by CTP communication initiatives.
• Learning the interpretation and communication of complex scientific information at a level CTP’s audiences can fully understand.
• Learning how to apply best practices in behavior change communication to the creation of evidence-based strategies and tactics.
• Learning the scientific review of content for FDA’s tobacco public health education campaigns and regulatory communications.
• Maintaining resources for scientific review.
• Keeping up-to-date on tobacco survey data and reviewing studies concerning tobacco products to ensure OHCE’s communications are supported by the best available science and reflect the most up-to-date information and statistics.

Travel stipend for relevant conferences is included. 

The initial appointment is for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of FDA and contingent on the availability of funds.

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: August 2022 (start date is flexible)

This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and FDA. The initial appointment is for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of FDA contingent on the availability of funds. The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. Travel stipend for relevant conferences will be provided. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. The appointment is full-time at FDA in the Silver Spring, Maryland, area. Participants do not become employees of FDA, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits.

Completion of a successful background investigation by the Office of Personnel Management is required for an applicant to be on-boarded at FDA. OPM can complete a background investigation only for individuals, including non-US Citizens, who have resided in the US for a total of three of the past five years.

FDA requires ORISE participants to read and sign their FDA Education and Training Agreement within 30 days of his/her start date, setting forth the conditions and expectations for his/her educational appointment at the agency.  This agreement covers such topics as the following:

• Non-employee nature of the ORISE appointment;
• Prohibition on ORISE Fellows performing inherently governmental functions;
• Obligation of ORISE Fellows to convey all necessary rights to the FDA regarding intellectual property conceived or first reduced to practice during their fellowship;
• The fact that research materials and laboratory notebooks are the property of the FDA;
• ORISE fellow’s obligation to protect and not to further disclose or use non-public information.

The qualified candidate should be currently pursuing or have received a master's or doctoral degree in one of the relevant fields. Degree must have been received within the past five years.

Preferred skills:

• Previous coursework and/or work experience in tobacco or other public health research or evaluation preferred
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Knowledge of social science theory, program evaluation, program theory, and/or logic models
• Knowledge of social marketing, health communication science, social science or advertising
• Knowledge of quantitative social science research methods
• Knowledge of survey instrument and self-report measures development
• Knowledge of public health environments at local, state, and national levels
• Knowledge of and experience contributing to the development of youth-focused prevention strategies
• Intermediate to advanced experience with the Microsoft Office Suite

• Citizenship: U.S. Citizen Only
• Degree: Master's Degree or Doctoral Degree received within the last 60 months or anticipated to be received by 6/24/2022 12:00:00 AM.
• Discipline(s):
  • Computer, Information, and Data Sciences (1 )
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences (29 )

Have you lived in the United States for at least 36 out of the past 60 months? (36 months do not have to be consecutive.)