CDC Climate and Health Science Fellowship

*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.

CDC Office and Location: This ORISE fellowship opportunity is currently available in the Climate and Health Program in the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice (DEHSP) within the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) at CDC in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the major operation components of the Department of Health and Human Services. CDC works to protect America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. 

The Climate and Health Program (CHP) leads CDC’s efforts to enable communities to prepare for and respond to the health impacts of climate change. CHP’s vision is to be the national leader in empowering communities to protect human health from a changing climate. The Program uses three main strategies to achieve this: 

1. Build the Evidence Base: By evaluating health risks, impact, and solutions, we build the knowledge base to support community adaptation and resilience. Communities have a shared understanding of the health impact of climate change. This stimulates partners to collaborate and develop effective solutions that reduce health risks.
2. Expand Capacity: We build and grow collaborations that expand capacities across sectors to respond to health issues in a changing climate. CDC cultivates a diverse portfolio of training, tools, and resources to equip partners at every level to develop unique adaptation strategies. This mobilizes communities across the nation to make adaptation decisions to protect health.
3. Tell The Story: By telling the story about how a changing climate changes health, CDC provides the impetus for dialogue, choices, and actions across the nation. CDC’s framing of health risks and solutions illustrates how adaptation benefits physical, social, and economic well-being. 

Research Project: The participant will be housed in the Science team of CHP and will partner and collaborate with other teams and programs involved in climate and health activities at CDC. In this appointment, the participant will primarily engage in ongoing and new research projects exploring mortality and morbidity burden associated with climate-sensitive exposures. The fellow will engage with experts inside and outside the organization to facilitate the development of linked datasets, methods, and tools relevant to advance climate and health practice. As needs arise, the participant may also be assigned to projects and initiatives that support other aspects of CHP around data science, climate and health equity, project management, and research translation.

More specifically, under the guidance of a mentor, the participant is expected to be involved in the following learning activities:

1. Co-lead data collection and management efforts for the conduct of epidemiologic analyses and translational research projects.
2. Co-lead and support data curation and wrangling efforts necessary to create linked datasets from large databases.
3. Extract and process information and data available from environmental and weather agencies.
4. Perform state-of-the-art statistical analysis and implement Artificial Intelligence based methods in commonly used programming languages (SAS, R, Python, etc.).
5. Conduct literature reviews of mortality and morbidity impacts associated with extreme weather events and natural disasters.
6. Assist in conceptualizing, planning and implementing research projects and writing proposals related to ascertaining the impact of climate-sensitive exposures on human health.
7. Co-lead and support the preparation of abstracts, manuscripts, research reports and scientific documents for a diverse set of audiences internal and external to CDC.
8. Support ongoing efforts within CDC to translate research findings to inform climate and health practice.
9. Disseminate scientific findings to various stakeholders (e.g., CDC-funded recipients, workgroups, academic institutions).
10. Provide scientific support and technical assistance to CDC recipients and other partners on their program priorities and help coordinate and assist analytical efforts collectively undertaken by climate and health workgroups.

Learning Objectives: The participant will further their understanding of the impact of climate-sensitive exposures on human health outcomes, and gain experience on relevant climate and health subtopics, including climate equity, climate modeling, and current practices in climate adaptation. The participant will also increase their knowledge and skills related to environmental health impact assessments, data science methods, project coordination and implementation science. The participant will collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to support project goals and objectives.

Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Ambarish Vaidyanathan (dvq3@cdc.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor(s).

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: October 1, 2023.  Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.

Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of CDC and is contingent on the availability of funds.

Level of Participation: The appointment is full-time.

Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience.

Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR).

ORISE Information: This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and CDC. Participants do not become employees of CDC, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.

The successful applicant(s) will be required to comply with Environmental, Safety and Health (ES&H) requirements of the hosting facility, including but not limited to, COVID-19 requirements (e.g. facial covering, physical distancing, testing, vaccination).

Questions: Please visit our Program Website. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process please email ORISE.CDC.NCEH@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.

Qualifications

The qualified candidate should have received a master's or doctoral degree in one of the relevant fields, or be currently pursuing one of the degrees with completion before September 1, 2023. Degree must have been received within five years of the appointment start date.

Preferred skills:

• Organized, able to collaborate, and with strong interpersonal communication and facilitation skills
• Data science
• Statistical programming and methods development
• Analysis and data visualization (qualitative and/or quantitative)
• Written communication (presentation and narrative report development)
• Oral communication (ability to engage diverse colleagues and partners)
• Project management
• Climate change mitigation and intervention assessment
• Prior quantitative and qualitative work measuring climate impacts on socially vulnerable populations and environmental justice communities.