Research and Data Associate

Position Summary:

The Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention (CDIP), within the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH), is seeking an individual with strong public health research and evaluation experience for the Research and Data Associate position. CDIP works to change policies, systems, and environments to make healthy living easier for residents. The goals of our programs are to increase physical activity and healthy eating; reduce tobacco use; lower the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including hypertension and high cholesterol; and to prevent avoidable injuries, with a focus on reducing firearm violence. The Division is especially concerned about documenting, understanding and working to reduce disparities in health.

The Research and Data Associate will analyze and evaluate several innovative programs designed to improve cardiovascular health among Philadelphians via clinical care interventions to prevent and manage hypertension, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease. The Associate will work closely with staff directing the programs and with other Research and Data Associates in CDIP s Data Lab, and will report to the Deputy Director of the Data Lab. The employee in this position is responsible for all aspects related to data analysis, research, and evaluation, including data collection, cleaning, management, and presentation; developing research questions, performing statistical analysis, and project management related to evaluation activities; reporting and summarizing findings in clear and concise written and oral reports; and working with partners on evaluation activities.

Our values:

At CDIP, we value health justice. Our work is guided by a commitment to all people’s health and humanity. We believe:

• All people have the right to jive to their fullest potential.
• All communities have the right to create environments that allow them to grow
• and thrive. Public health policy will be developed in full partnership with the community.
• Knowledge comes in many forms and many places in our society.
• Progress only happens when we treat people, communities, partners, and staff with care and respect.

This position is contingent on continued grant funding.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Research and Data Associate will accomplish the following:

• Perform all aspects of the research process [or mixed-methods research and evaluation projects, including literature reviews, designing research questions, constructing research instruments, data collection, data entry and preparation, data analysis, statistical analysis, and reporting of research findings.
• Manage evaluation projects with internal and external partners, including keeping track of implementation activities, working with partners to obtain quantitative and qualitative data within project timelines, and reporting on progress and results to stakeholders.
• Conduct data and evaluation reporting for grant activities, including gathering grant metrics from external partners.
• Manage, clean, analyze, and interpret data, including administrative data, hospitalization data, national data, and internal research and evaluation project data.
• Conduct interviews, perform qualitative analysis, and summarize results for a peer-reviewed audience.
• Review and synthesize existing literature on topics related to chronic conditions and injury prevention
• Guide research projects through Institutional Review Board approval.
• Communicate research findings in the forms of tables and graphs, reports, data briefs, presentations, and manuscripts. The Research and Data Associate should be able to report findings to a variety of audiences.
• Demonstrate an understanding of evaluation in the public health field.
• Maintain and query databases. Perform related duties, including designing source and output documents, developing schedules for the input of data, and testing new programs.
• Perform metric reporting for grants and internal purposes.
• Contribute to program evaluation planning.
• Collaborate with health care, academic, community, and policy partners on evaluation activities.
• Work collaboratively with other Data Lab members to develop the analysis skills of the entire team.
• Contribute to writing grants.
• Contribute to manuscript development for peer-reviewed journals.
• Perform related work to support the goals of the Division.
• Actively participate in division and partner meetings.

Skills Required:

• Knowledge of and experience with epidemiological or social science research
• methods) including study design, methodology, and preparation of scientific reports
• Ability to analyze data, write project proposals, and write technical reports
• Ability to summarize findings for a variety of audiences, e.g. scientists, clinicians, policy makers, funders and the public
• Interest in using data skills in an applied setting to advance health policy goals
• Strong analytic abilities with statistical software (e.g., R, Stata, SAS, etc.)
• Experience with interactive data visualization and/or mapping software a plus
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Experience managing projects as part of a team
• Able to work as part of a team, prioritize and manage multiple tasks and deadlines, work independently, take initiative, and follow projects through to completion

Education and Experience:

• Completion of a Master’s or advanced degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, quantitative methodology, public health, public policy, social or behavioral sciences or related field from an accredited college or university.
• Two or more years of work experience in research, data analysis, and evaluation.
• Intermediate to advanced level professional or academic experience in data analysis, including relevant statistical software experience such as SAS, R, or Stata.

OR

• Any equivalent combination of education and experience determined to be acceptable by the Department of Public Health.

Equal Opportunity Employment:

PMHCC, Inc. is committed to equal opportunity. It is our policy to support equal employment for all employees and applicants without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual preferences, age, national origin, disability, behavioral health status, military status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Americans with Disabilities Act:

Employees as well as applicants who are currently, or become disabled, must be able to perform the functions of the job with either reasonable accommodation or unaided. PMHCC, Inc. will examine reasonable accommodations on a case by case basis in accordance with the law.