Health Scientist

Atlanta, GA, United States

TRAVEL: As required to fulfill the responsibilities of the position

ASRT, Inc. provides scientific, information management, management consulting, bioinformatics, and administrative program support to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other Federal and private sector clients. The successful candidate will be a full-time employee of ASRT, Inc. and will be assigned to the U.S. National Authority for Containment of Poliovirus (NAC) at the CDC, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30333.

SCOPE OF WORK

The Health Scientist supports U.S. NAC”s overall operational objectives: maintain a national inventory to identify all facilities working with poliovirus materials (e.g., cultures, stocks) and potentially infectious poliovirus materials, known as “PIM” (e.g., respiratory secretions and fecal samples, respiratory or enteric viral isolates, environmental water samples, etc.); support facilities that report poliovirus and PIM to make sure they know about the Global Action Plan and encourage them to destroy unneeded materials or discuss preparations to implement containment measures for eradicated poliovirus; and, audit facilities that intend to store eradicated poliovirus and certify them as poliovirus-essential facilities.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Project Management

• Works with poliovirus-retaining facilities to safely use and/or store virus materials through individual assistance, national surveys, informative webinars, collaborative scholarship.

Study Coordination and Technical Consultation

• Proactively work with CDC scientists to identify scientific research needs for projects and work interactively to develop research studies to address such needs.

• Provide scientific consultation on study design, analysis, and interpretation.

• Work with multidisciplinary teams to solve challenging problems of importance to poliovirus containment.

• Coordinate and communicate project activities with collaborators.

• Coordinate with internal and external customers to ensure appropriate communication of results to stakeholders, including providing scientific support for responses to questions posed by scientists.

• Provide consultation and technical expertise to CDC staff in the development of manuscripts and other professional publications highlighting the public health impact of programmatic activities.

• Serve as the primary liaison to coordinate study activities with CDC staff and other internal and external partners.

Scientific Study Design, Tool Development, and Data Analysis

• Perform scientific research on internally or externally available datasets and initiate and conduct studies in close collaboration with external research and academic groups.

• Support the application of scientific development and analysis of evidence-based public health policy recommendations and findings.

• Provide statistical/mathematical modeling support in multiple dimensions, including providing technical leadership and expertise to execute multi-disciplinary or cross-functional projects that will influence modeling and health science.

• Support the branch in its development of a training toolkit on the GAPIV standard for poliovirus and non-polio laboratories holding potentially infectious materials (PIM, e.g., stool, respiratory secretion, wastewater specimens) to provide guidance on laboratory biorisk management systems.

• Draft project proposals, recommendations, and determinations to improve biosafety evidence based upon consultation with CDC SMEs and other collaborators. First, the initial project proposal shall be due within six (6) weeks of contract award, then updated continuously upon consultation with US NAC as needed. Recommendations, determinations, and other proposals shall occur on an ongoing basis throughout the period of performance.

• Use simulated laboratory conditions to assist US NAC in the design and performance of biosafety experiments.

• Provide technical expertise to US NAC in the development of electronic survey tools, identification of participant bases, and surveys of domestic and international partners (e.g., PPE survey, emergency response survey).

• Collect, manage, and analyze data to improve guidance and policy recommendations.

• Analyze data from scientific projects, investigations, and other public health sources.

Scientific Literature Review, Scientific Writing, and Presentation

• Conduct critical appraisal and synthesis of relevant scientific literature, design, initiation, management, and reporting of scientific research projects.

• Conduct systematic reviews of scientific literature and identify areas of opportunities for developing new and improved methodologies to promote evidence-based approaches for implementation of poliovirus containment.

• Critique internally and externally written manuscripts/published literature, abstracts, PowerPoint presentations and related scientific and communication products.

• Prepare reports and other information products upon completion of scientific studies to communicate study results to CDC program management, scientists and committees.

• Review projects and analyze studies to assess major and/or sensitive poliovirus containment issues to make recommendations for processes, procedures and/or policies related to program, practices, and research.

• Conduct innovative research, publish, and present results in refereed journals and other scientific forums.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Experience:

• Advanced degree in a relevant field with at least 6 years of experience in a relevant public health field.

• Is listed as 1st Author on at least 2 manuscripts.

• Lab experience is preferred.

• Experience with modeling·

• Strong statistical background is preferred.

• Additional specific experience related to data management, data analysis, and poliovirus or similar subject areas is preferred.

Language Skills:

• The candidate must possess excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

REQUIREMENT: Must be a United States citizen or permanent resident or have authorization for employment in the United States.

SALARY: Commensurate with qualifications and experience.

To apply for this position:

• If you are viewing this position on the ASRT Career page, please click on the "Apply" button.

• If you are viewing this position on a site other than the ASRT Career page, you may use the "click to apply" link, or you may apply by visiting our Career page and searching for the job title and position number listed at the top of this job posting.

• To view all of our open positions and to apply to job openings in which you may be interested, please visit our Career page at https://www.asrtinc.com/careers.

ASRT, INC. IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER. It is the policy of ASRT, Inc. to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to race, color, religion, citizenship, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, veteran or disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law, and to take affirmative action in accordance with applicable laws and Executive Orders.

Education Requirement:

Advanced degree in a relevant field with at least 6 years of experience in a relevant public health field.

The American Society for Virology promotes exchange of information and stimulates discussion and collaboration among virologists.

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