CDC NCIRD Morehouse School of Medicine Vaccine-Preventable Disease Internship Program – Health Surveillance, Epidemiological Studies, and Outbreak Response
*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.
CDC Office and Location: A fellowship opportunity is available with the Measles, Rubella, and Cytomegalovirus (MeRC) Team, within the Division of Viral Diseases (DVD), in the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. This opportunity can be part-time or full-time and is eligible for 100% telework from Atlanta.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the major operations 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. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same.
The mission of the Division of Viral Diseases (DVD) is to prevent disease, disability, and death from viral diseases through immunization and other prevention measures. Within DVD is the MeRC Epidemiology Team is responsible for epidemiology, surveillance, policy, and research programs for vaccine-preventable and non-vaccine preventable diseases such as measles, rubella, and cytomegalovirus (CMV) that affect various populations (infants, pregnant persons, children, and elders).
Research Project: The MeRC team is seeking a qualified and motivated candidate to support surveillance activities, epidemiological studies, and outbreak response. The team is frequently involved in outbreak response and has numerous ongoing epidemiologic studies. They also support states in enhanced surveillance for measles and rubella and, more recently, for CMV through the Surveillance for Emerging Threats Network for pregnant persons and babies. The team also collaborates with its laboratory teams for outbreak investigations and research studies with the division's communications team on health messaging and outbreak communications. For the upcoming year, the team is collaborating with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Work Group to revise the position statement to update and standardize the case definitions for rubella/congenital rubella syndrome, which will be proposed for voting in 2024. This is an opportunity to understand the process of developing standardized case definitions used in public health and to enhance state-based surveillance for measles and rubella.
Learning Objectives: The activities listed below represent the minimum training opportunities that the fellow will complete:
- Evaluate measles and rubella surveillance across 10-15 states.
- Support implementation of congenital CMV (cCMV) surveillance via SET-NET
- Support measles outbreak investigations, including reviewing molecular epidemiology, supporting contact tracing, transmission mapping, and fine-scale estimation of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine coverage
- Participate in roundtable discussions at the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Meeting and state interviews to revise and improve standardized case ascertainment and classification for cCMV
- Develop a peer-reviewed publication on measles and rubella surveillance across 10-15 states.
Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Mariama Tounkara (qtr3@cdc.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor(s).
Anticipated Appointment Start Date: August 14, 2023. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.
Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for up to one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of CDC and is contingent on the availability of funds.
Level of Participation: The appointment is part-time (20-40 hours/week).
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, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR), and foreign nationals. Non-U.S. citizen applicants should refer to the Guidelines for Non-U.S. Citizens Details page of the program website for information about the valid immigration statuses that are acceptable for program participation.
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.NCIRD@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.
Qualifications
The qualified candidate should be a current Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) student pursuing a master's, doctoral, or medical degree in Biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences, Medicine, Public Health, or other related disciplines and have completed at least one year, to be received before May 31, 2023. Recent graduates from MSM will also be considered, and a degree must have been received within the past five years.
Preferred skills:
- Experience working with partners, including phone interviews
- Experience in collecting and entering data, with some data analysis skills.
- Experience in applying public health practice.