Surveillance Officer

Oakland, CA | CAN
036
Oakland, CA 94607, USA

The California Emerging Infections Program (CEIP) is a program administered by Heluna Health. It is one of twelve EIP sites nationwide, which serve as a national resource for surveillance, prevention, and control of emerging infectious diseases. CEIP functions under a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is a collaborative effort involving the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, and several local health departments.

Under general direction from the CEIP Active Bacterial Core Surveillance Project Coordinator, the Surveillance Officer will assist with disease surveillance and related activities of the CEIP. The applicant should possess excellent communication skills, both verbal and written. Work will be conducted at the CEIP Oakland office. Travel to hospitals and health departments in the San Francisco Bay Area may also be required.

Duties will include, but are not limited to, medical chart abstraction, data entry, contacting hospitals and laboratories for information regarding patients, coordinating bacterial isolate submissions, scheduling medical courier services, preparing isolate mailer supplies, requesting medical records, and general organizational office work. The Surveillance Officer will also interact with local health departments regarding reportable conditions--ensuring necessary follow-up--and submitting reports to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Surveillance Officer may conduct public health interviews of case-patients (as necessary) and lead special studies under direct project coordinator supervision as assigned.

* Salary for this role is $72,996

• Establish/maintain laboratory-based infectious disease surveillance system
• Medical record data abstraction, data entry, and data edits
• Project protocol development and modification
• Assist Project Coordinator in compiling reports including feedback to participating hospitals and labs
• Attend general CEIP and core staff meetings
• Conduct follow-up with local health departments (LHD) in disease reporting and ensuring necessary follow-up for reportable conditions; assist LHD and state health dept. in outbreak investigations

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, or related field. This may be substituted with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health or related Science (Microbiology, Statistics, Health Science, Biology) plus 2 years of public health experience.
• Microbiology or epidemiology coursework strongly preferred.

• Experience with infectious diseases in either an academic, clinical, public health, or research setting.
• Understanding of medical terminology.
• Experience collecting data on standardized forms.
• Experience with basic data analysis (e.g., R/SAS/SPSS/STATA).
• Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills. Candidates can demonstrate their skills in this area.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly in email communication and over the telephone.
• Self-motivated person who has strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work independently and in a team setting.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, especially Word, Excel and Access.
• Strong knowledge of public health practices and methodology.
• Capacity to perform public health interviews and patient follow-up.
• Capacity to train and transfer skills to others such as phone interviewing and data entry.

• Experience working with protected health information and maintaining patient confidentiality preferred.
• Experience abstracting…