Tribal Communicable Disease Epidemiologist

Job Title: Tribal Communicable Disease Epidemiologist

Reports to: Epidemiology & Surveillance Unit Project Director

Initial Salary Range: $86,311 – $90,000 annually

Benefits: Health, Vision, & Dental Insurance, Retirement Contributions, PTO, and Paid Holidays

Funded Through: September 30, 2026

Classification: Salaried, Exempt

Status: Full-Time (1.0 FTE), Regular Employee

Location: Portland, OR

JOB SUMMARY

The Northwest Tribes have long recognized the need to exercise control over the design and development of health care delivery systems in their local communities. To this end, they formed the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (also referred to as NPAIHB or "the Board") in 1972.

Guided by a vision of "Health and Wellness for the Seventh Generation," NPAIHB is a 501(c)3 designated (non-profit) organization and Tribal organization, P.L. 93-638, under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA) serving the 43 federally recognized Tribes in the states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington (Northwest Tribes). Tribes become voting members of the Board through resolutions passed by their governing body.

Each member Tribe designates a delegate to serve on the NPAIHB Board of Directors.

Led by our Board of Directors, NPAIHB's mission is to "eliminate health disparities and improve the quality of life of American Indians and Alaska Natives by supporting Northwest Tribes in their delivery of culturally appropriate, high-quality health programs and services." We have a staff of over 120 professionals dedicated to advancing Tribal health for the 7th generation in the Pacific Northwest.

The NPAIHB's Strategic Plan  can be found here.

The Tribal Communicable Disease Epidemiologist (CD Epi) is responsible for leading data analysis, data communication, training, and coordination activities related to the Northwest Tribal Epidemiology Center's (NWTEC) communicable disease surveillance and prevention activities in addition to advancing data analysis and reporting related to vaccinations. Duties include, but are not limited to: conducting statistical analysis and interpretation of data; developing and providing trainings to Northwest Tribes on communicable disease epidemiology, outbreak investigations, and vaccine epidemiology;

providing consultation on the epidemiology, control, and prevention of communicable diseases to Tribes and other partners and assisting with survey/tool development; participating in the development of local-level health status reports, manuscripts, dashboards, and presentations; supporting data access and quality improvement activities, such as record linkages; and providing technical assistance to Tribes and Tribal health programs on a variety of data and public health issues.

The CD Epi must have knowledge of communicable disease processes and control measures, notifiable conditions and their associated reporting, and vaccination principles. They must have experience in management and analysis of large and/or complex databases.

They must have intermediate to advanced skills in statistical software such as SAS, SPSS, R or Stata. SAS and R programming experience are preferred. They must demonstrate a willingness and capability to learn new software applications, such as Quick Sight, Match
* Pro, AWS, and other applications.

The CD Epi supports the NPAIHB's Epidemiology & Surveillance Unit of 5 public health professionals who provide routine surveillance, data analysis, and reporting to Northwest Tribes.

The CD Epi reports to the Project Director of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit. This scope of work is housed within the NWTEC Division.

This position is based at NPAIHB's offices in Portland, Oregon. Local travel and/or overnight travel outside of the area is required approximately 15% of the time.

• Serve as a subject matter expert for communicable disease epidemiology within NWTEC, with a focus on sexually transmitted infections, respiratory diseases, and vaccines
• Prioritize and pursue access to communicable disease and immunization data sources based on Tribal needs
• Design and conduct statistical analysis of survey data and health status data, including but not limited to: communicable disease registry data, immunization registry data, vital statistics, hospitalization, emergency department, and health services utilization data.
• Understand and document dataset limitations, and maintain and support quality improvement and data management activities
• Prepare and maintain technical documentation related to communicable disease and immunization-related analyses
• Assess racial misclassification in AI/AN communicable disease/immunization-related data, disseminate findings, and support NWTEC work to correct misclassification and improve recording of racial data
• Conduct interpretation of statistical findings and translation of results for tribal health status reports and other…