Epidemiologist II

Description: ANTICIPATED START DATE: 2 weeks after candidate identification TRAVEL: As required to fulfill the responsibilities of the position IHRC Inc. seeks a dedicated and experienced Epidemiologist II to support our clients at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/Coronavirus and Other Respiratory Viruses Division (CORVD). CORVD’s mission is to provide the health of people by preventing illness, disability and death from respiratory viruses through public health science and practice in the United States and globally. This position is needed for accomplishing CORVD’s mission. Epidemiologist III will provide technical assistance to support regional capacity to conduct surveillance, detection, and response to events of public health significance.

• Support management and organization of respiratory hospitalization surveillance datasets (e.g., COVID-19, RSV).
• Clean, merge, and maintain datasets from multiple sources to ensure consistency and usability.
• Assist in aligning variables, standardizing naming conventions, and reconciling discrepancies across datasets and time.
• Perform routine data validation checks to identify missing, inconsistent, or out-of-range values.
• Generate and maintain basic QA reports and track data issues and resolutions.
• Contribute to the development and upkeep of data dictionaries and metadata documentation.
• Assist in drafting and maintaining standard operating procedures (SOPs) for data workflows.
• Support data ingestion, transformation, and preparation for analysis and reporting.
• Create simple, user-friendly summaries or guides to support data users and stakeholders.
• Collaborate with epidemiologists and team members to ensure data quality and consistency.
• Maintain data security and confidentiality in accordance with project requirements.
• Work with structured and semi-structured datasets across platforms (e.g., Excel, SQL, REDCap, or cloud environments).
• Perform data cleaning, transformation, and basic harmonization tasks.
• Support merging of datasets and validation of outputs.
• Assist in tracking and documenting changes in data structure over time.
• Execute predefined QA checks and flag data quality issues.
• Maintain logs of data issues, corrections, and updates.
• Update data dictionaries and documentation as datasets evolve.
• Follow established data governance and documentation standards.

Requirements:

• MS with 0-5+ years’ experience or BA/BS with 5-10+ years’ experience.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience working with CDC staff at multiple organizational levels.
• Proficiency in at least one: SQL, R, Python, or SAS.
• Experience working with large datasets (public health or healthcare data preferred).
• Familiarity with Excel and data cleaning techniques.
• Exposure to cloud platforms (e.g., Databricks) or willingness to learn.
• Basic understanding of data validation and QA processes.
• Communicate data issues and findings clearly to team members.
• Work collaboratively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Follow established processes and escalate issues when needed.
• Exposure to public health or surveillance data systems.
• Experience with basic automation or scripting for data checks.
• Familiarity with metadata, data dictionaries, or documentation practices.
• Introductory experience with AI-assisted tools for data review or validation.
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills.
• Able to follow structured processes and maintain consistency.
• Comfortable working with moderately complex datasets.
• Proactive but able to work within defined guidance and frameworks.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.