Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:
1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

PROGRAM AND JOB DESCRIPTION:

The World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR) was developed as a public health response to document and evaluate the physical and mental health impact of the September 11 th 2001 disaster on a large, diverse population of about 71,000 exposed people who volunteered to participate in the WTCHR. The WTCHR also responds to 9/11-related health needs and concerns through referrals of enrollees to care and dissemination of findings and related health materials to enrollees and the public. Housed within the Center for Population Health Data Science in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) , the WTCHR's research influences national policies concerning healthcare for those who survived the attacks and contributes novel epidemiologic findings to the post-disaster public health literature. The WTCHR is funded by a federal grant from NIOSH's World Trade Center Health Program. NYC DOHMH is a world-renowned agency with a long tradition of protecting and promoting the health of New Yorkers in the nation's most culturally and linguistically diverse city. The Department's internal reform process for advancing racial equity and social justice (Race to Justice) provides important context for the agency's work and recruitment strategy as it aims to build capacity within the agency to improve health outcomes for all New Yorkers.

To learn more, visit: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/neighborhood-health/race-to-justice.page

The WTCHR is seeking a Research Scientist for Cancer and Mortality Studies. The hired candidate is expected to conduct epidemiologic studies focusing on cancer and mortality and provide assistance in data preparation, data cleaning and questionable match reviews for periodical cancer data and mortality data linkages. The candidate should be highly organized, detail-oriented, have data management skill, and able to work well in teams and independently.

DUTIES WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:
- Lead and/or co-lead studies related to health effect of WTC exposure, primarily on cancer and mortality. Tasks include literature review, data preparation, analysis phases and drafting reports, presentations and/or manuscripts.
- Participate in other on-going World Trade Center Health Registry studies in areas such as mental and physical health effects associated with exposure to the 9/11 disaster as needed.
- Co-lead cancer and mortality linkage-related activities, such as linked data review and cleaning. Finalize linked data for research use.
- Assist with IRBs and DUA renewals and applications of linkages, such as the Virtual Pooled Registry Cancer Linkage System (VPR-CLS), and mortality data.
- Conduct quality assurance of Registry scientific outputs, including manuscripts, to ensure that Registry standards for accuracy in coding, statistics and narrative exposition are met.
- Participate in the design and implementation of WTCHR surveys and questionnaire development as needed, including participating in survey content discussions.
- Maintain confidentiality of identifiable data.
- Perform other tasks based on program needs and contribute to DOHMH efforts to promote health equity and racial justice.

**IMPORTANT NOTES TO ALL CANDIDATES:

Please note: If you are called for an interview you will be required to bring to your interview copies of original documentation, such as:
- A document that establishes identity for employment eligibility, such as: A Valid U.S. Passport, Permanent Resident Card/Green Card, or Driver’s license.

- Proof of Education according to the education requirements of the civil service title.

- Current Resume

- Proof of Address/NYC Residency dated within the last 60 days, such as: Recent Utility Bill (i.e. Telephone, Cable, Mobile Phone)

Additional documentation may be required to evaluate your qualification as outlined in this posting’s “Minimum Qualification Requirements” section. Examples of additional documentation may be, but not limited to: college transcript, experience verification or professional trade licenses.

If after your interview you are the selected candidate you will be contacted to schedule an on-boarding appointment. By the time of this appointment you will be asked to produce the originals of the above documents along with your original Social Security card.

**LOAN FORGIVENESS

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at StudentAid.gov/PSLF.

"FINAL APPOINTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET APPROVAL”

1. For Assignment Level I (only physical, biological and environmental sciences and public health) A master's degree from an accredited college or university with a specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological or environmental science or in public health.
To be appointed to Assignment Level II and above, candidates must have:
1. A doctorate degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and one year of full-time experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the appropriate field of specialization; or
2. A master's degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and three years of responsible full-time research experience in the appropriate field of specialization; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least a master's degree in an appropriate field of specialization and at least two years of experience described in "2" above. Two years as a City Research Scientist Level I can be substituted for the experience required in "1" and "2" above.

NOTE:
Probationary Period
Appointments to this position are subject to a minimum probationary period of one year.

- Master's or other advanced degree in epidemiology, demography, statistics, public health, or a related field - Competency in statistics, SAS programming and/or R, and data manipulation technologies - Experience with data cleaning - Experience with data analysis, epidemiologic studies, and manuscript writing - Highly organized with a strong attention to detail and an ability to work well in teams and independently on multiple simultaneous projects - Strong written and verbal communication skills - Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access).

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.