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• 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.

HHS Office and Location: A fellowship is available in the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Office of the Secretary (OS), at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) located in Rockville, MD.

The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services.

About HIV.gov: With up to 9 million website visits per year, HIV.gov is a leading source for government officials, state and local officials, public health professionals, health care providers, advocates, and the HIV community to find the federal policies, programs, and resources that will help end the HIV epidemic in America. HIV.gov models the effective use of digital media to strengthen our public health work and empower partners to achieve their missions more effectively. HIV.gov’s collective social media following is upwards of 500K across our platforms.

Research Project: The individual will primarily focus on evaluating HIV.gov’s social media presence, platform use, and user experience, but will also assess different communication activities that are being done across OIDP. The individual will assist in helping us develop research outcomes and translate them into applicable, immediate, short and long-term action steps.

The individual will conduct research-based assessments to determine best practices for HIV.gov’s social media utilization and technological tools pertinent and appropriate for our target audiences and their needs in 2022 and beyond. Additionally, the individual will conduct research to assess and offer suggestions to improve HIV.gov’s current social media strategy including the use of chatbots.

The individual will document, evaluate, and participate in the following activities:

• Collaborate with up to 10 members of an interagency group called The Federal HIV/AIDS Web Council (FHWC) for an informal assessment of how our social media platforms can better support their work and goals through multiple 1 on 1 and group conversations. (We want the learning from this assessment not just to benefit our office, but those we work with on FHWC.)
• Develop 2 blog posts, bylined by the individual, to share with our users describing (in 500 words) learnings from the research.
• Present research findings at the HHS annual communications meeting in a 10-minute presentation including Q & A.
• Produce a short (5 -7 minute) PowerPoint presentation on those suggestions
• Participate in monthly meetings and communications with communication leaders in multiple OASH offices, and participate in up to 2 weekly OIDP communications like half-hour think tank sessions.
• Review up to 6 national rollout plans for the release of national HIV policy announcements and/or senior-level national events involving multiple federal agencies, from the CDC to the State Department to the White House Office of National AIDS Policy to assess if the information gathered from the communication research would suggest modifications to these rollout plans.
• Participate in monthly meetings and communications with offices across OASH in order to inform colleagues on this research project and solicit their input.
• Participate in monthly meetings with the OIDP/HIV.gov chatbot work group in order to inform colleagues on this research project and solicit their input.

Learning Objectives: Under the guidance of a mentor, learning and experience benefits from this appointment will include:

• Opportunity to document organizational public health program best practices for social media utilization that will be used to inform multimillion-dollar fiscal investments including the development of materials that respond to new and emerging outbreaks that impact our target audiences.
• Gain exposure to public health-related events and learning opportunities.
• Publish research results on HIV.gov as a blog.
• Give presentations on findings at meetings with senior management.

Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Miguel Gomez (miguel.gomez@hhs.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor(s).

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: January 11, 2023. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.

Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for two years, but may be renewed upon recommendation of HHS 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 only.

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 HHS. Participants do not become employees of HHS, 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 HHSrpp@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.

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

Preferred Skills:

• Collaborative - works well in teams and individually
• Well-versed in up-to-date digital outreach through social media (E.g.Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube)
• General Knowledge: HIV and research skills or similar skills
• Understanding of some of our key priority populations including communities of color in the context of HIV and syndemics. Those communities, as outlined in the NHAS include: Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (in particular Black, Latino, and American Indian/Alaska Native men), Black women, Transgender women, Youth aged 13–24 years, and People who inject drugs
• Some knowledge of chatbots: To carry out this research it would be helpful to have an understanding of data analysis to look at traffic patterns and topic trends, know how to do environmental analysis of other chatbots in health/government fields to inform this research effort, and have experience related to voice implementation and other tools like animated avatars.

• Citizenship: U.S. Citizen Only
• Degree: Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree, or Doctoral Degree received within the last 60 months or anticipated to be received by 10/11/2024 12:00:00 AM.
• Minimum Overall GPA: 2.50
• Discipline(s):
  • Business (11 )
  • Chemistry and Materials Sciences (12 )
  • Communications and Graphics Design (6 )
  • Computer, Information, and Data Sciences (17 )
  • Earth and Geosciences (21 )
  • Engineering (27 )
  • Environmental and Marine Sciences (14 )
  • Life Health and Medical Sciences (48 )
  • Mathematics and Statistics (11 )
  • Other Non-Science & Engineering (13 )
  • Physics (16 )
  • Science & Engineering-related (2 )
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences (29 )
• Age: Must be 18 years of age
• Veteran Status: Veterans Preference, degree received within the last 120 month(s).