A unique opportunity exists to join the Western Public Health Unit in the role of Epidemiologist

The Western Public Health Unit (WPHU) has been established to strengthen the public health response to infectious diseases and other health issues. The Unit is part of a new system of 3 metropolitan Public Health Units (WPHU, North-eastern (NEPHU), South-eastern (SEPHU)) and will link with the existing 6 regional Public Health Units to provide a new state-wide system of public health delivery and oversight. Initially WPHU will be responsible for COVID-19 related activities (case investigation, contact tracing, case coordination, clinical care and outbreak management).

About the role

The Epidemiologist will be responsible for:

• Epidemiological support and advice to the WPHU by investigating links between cases, and transmission dynamics in clusters.
• Development of enhanced datasets to understand Covid-19 and other communicable disease epidemiology in the context of the population served by WPHU
• Data analysis to understand the epidemiology of Covid-19 and other communicable diseases relevant to WPHU. 
• Maintaining situational awareness of evolving Covid-19 and other communicable diseases epidemiological issues in Victoria, Australia, and overseas relevant to WPHU.
• Overseeing data extraction and reports and visualisations to support the activities of the PHU
• Assisting the data analyst to develop reports to assist contact tracers to review and clean data pertaining to Covid-19 in the surveillance database to ensure it accurately reflects information known about cases, contacts and outbreaks including case classification and epidemiological links

About you

WPHU is seeking an experienced Epidemiologist who enjoys working in a dynamic and fast paced environment. The Unit is looking for someone with:

• Relevant tertiary qualification in epidemiology or related field  or equivalent applied experience
• Well-developed oral and written communication skills and proven ability to liaise effectively with users to elicit, document and meet their data requirements.
• Knowledge of health related data collections, including data governance processes.
• Experience synthesising complex data from a variety of different sources, analysing it and presenting the results to organisational stakeholders
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel and experience working with business intelligence and analytical tools such as Tableau or Power BI.

Key challenges

• Balancing constantly changing priorities and demands, within tight timeframes in a high pressure, fast paced environment, while understanding and maintaining highly confidential Health data.
• Maintaining situational awareness of the evolving epidemiological issues relevant to unit and applying this to investigations and intelligence communications
• Working professionally with organisations and services experiencing high levels of stress and need for support.