Disease Intervention Specialist

ONLY PERMANENT EMPLOYEES IN THE TITLE AND THOSE THAT ARE REACHABLE ON THE PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISER CIVIL SERVICE LIST ARE ELIGIBLE TO APPLY.

The NYC Health Department's Bureau of Hepatitis, HIV, and Sexually Transmitted Infections (BHHS) falls within the Division of Disease Control and oversees the City's response to viral hepatitis, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Its mission is to improve the lives of New Yorkers by ending transmission, illness, stigma, and inequities related to viral hepatitis, HIV, and STIs. BHHS does this through testing initiatives;

prevention, care, and treatment programming; epidemiology and surveillance; training and technical assistance; community engagement; social marketing; policy advocacy; and racial equity and social justice initiatives. BHHS's over 500 staff members work across eight programs:
Administration, HIV Care and Treatment, HIV Epidemiology, HIV Prevention, Policy and External Affairs, Racial Equity and Social Justice Initiatives, STI, and Viral Hepatitis. BHHS works to end viral hepatitis, HIV, and STIs in New York City using an approach that is strengths-based, community-driven, and intersectional, accounting for how factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, sex, and socioeconomic status, among others, come together to impact public health.

Reporting to the Congenital Infections Coordinator, you will be conducting confidential disease investigation activities in the Congenital Syphilis Prevention Unit, for persons diagnosed with, exposed to, or at risk of acquiring certain sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV.

• Conduct field investigations and gather relevant medical (symptoms, treatment, etc.), demographic, and behavioral information from: diagnosing provider, historical health department records, Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO) and other relevant information sources via phone and electronic systems.
• Ensure key variables (e.g., pregnancy status) is known and documented for relevant syphilis investigations.
• Contact providers to ensure adequate treatment of patients.
• Ensure pregnant persons are tested for syphilis in their third trimester of pregnancy.
• Determine case status based on national case definitions established by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE).
• Collaborate with staff from the STI Case Investigation and Partner Services (CIPS) Unit to obtain complete and high-quality surveillance data to facilitate case investigations.
• Document all activities in the surveillance and case management system (Maven).
• Educate providers about reporting requirements, up-to-date treatment, and screening recommendations.
• Perform core surveillance duties including:
  Process records from electronic workflows in Maven on a daily basis and assign to other staff as required.
• Enter provider and laboratory report forms into related databases.
• Perform syphilis registry checks for providers.
• Answer the surveillance unit phone, monitor the surveillance unit voicemail box, respond to messages, sort and distribute mail.
• Participate in the Incident Command System to support emergency response needs as requested; attend all emergency response and ICs training.

Benefits:
City employees are entitled to unmatched benefits such as:

• a premium-free health insurance plan that saves employees over $10K annually, per a 2024 assessment.
• additional health, fitness, and financial benefits may be available based on the position’s associated union/benefit fund.
• a public sector defined benefit pension plan with steady monthly payments in retirement.
• a tax-deferred savings program and
• a robust Worksite Wellness Program that…