Epidemiologist

THE CURRENT VACANCY IS IN THE 

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES AGENCY – PUBLIC HEALTH BRANCH

ORAL EXAM IS TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 2025

RESPONSES TO SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONS REQUIRED

FINAL FILING DATE: MARCH 13, 2025 AT 5:00 PM

SALARY INFORMATION

$5,259 - $6,713 APPROXIMATE MONTHLY* / $30.34 - $38.72 APPROXIMATE HOURLY*

*Please refer to the appropriate Bargaining Unit Memorandum of Understanding for potential future salary increases* Please visit https://www.shastacounty.gov/personnel/page/labor-agreements-mous.

ABOUT SHASTA COUNTY

Shasta County offers all of the amenities of the big city while retaining a comfortable small-town atmosphere.  With its natural beauty, affordable housing, excellent educational system, abundance of recreational opportunities, and excellent quality of life, Shasta County is a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT 

Health and Human Services Agency

The Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) partners with communities to protect and improve the health and well-being of Shasta County residents. Established in 2006, the HHSA is organized into four branches: Children’s Services, Adult Services, Public Health and Economic Mobility, with a centralized administration. The HHSA promotes optimal health for all. The frail, the abused, the mentally ill and those without resources look to the HHSA for services and resources to meet their basic needs, and to protect their health and safety. This transformation improves efficiency, avoids unnecessary duplication of effort, encourages collaboration among programs and organizes the HHSA’s services to be more responsive to the needs of the public.

The Public Health Branch focuses on community-wide prevention of communicable disease, chronic disease, injury, substance abuse, family violence, and lead poisoning. Public Health helps the community develop policies and support community environments that encourage healthy behaviors. It promotes nutrition and physical activity, healthy aging, worksite wellness and healthy communities. Public Health is also where the HHSA’s emergency response unit is headquartered, and its laboratory provides testing services for Shasta and numerous other Northern California counties.

ABOUT THE POSITION

Under general direction, assesses community health status via collection, analysis and reporting of community health status outcome data; evaluates health impact of department programs; and performs related duties as required.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

The ideal candidate is a flexible team player who can adapt quickly to change. This person should have experience in epidemiology, data analysis program evaluation, and/or communicable disease epidemiology either professionally or through an internship and/or a master’s degree in Public Health. Problem solving, customer service skills, and the ability to work independently in a busy office are highly valued.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS

This classification in the Public Health Department is characterized by professional responsibility for providing a departmental-wide framework for appraising the health status of the community, including determining local morbidity levels and patterns of disease and assisting in monitoring the effectiveness of public health activities in addressing community health indicators.

EXAMPLES OF ESSENTIAL DUTIES

Establishes and/or maintains surveillance systems to identify and monitor communicable and chronic disease (including injury) and health risk behavior trends among various population groups (methods might include reviewing and monitoring case histories, health statistics, surveys, demographic data and laboratory results to identify epidemiologic trends); investigates epidemics or outbreaks of diseases, either by field participation or by analysis of pertinent data collected by department personnel, to determine the cause and probable source of disease; advises management on the interpretation and implication of statistical analysis, survey data and program evaluations, providing management with quantitative data and recommendations for decision-making purposes regarding design and implementation of Public Health services; participates in Public Health Accreditation process including collection and analysis of data for Community Health Assessment; participates as a departmental representative in community activities such as surveys and meetings; makes informational presentations to professionals, policy makers, media and the public; under direction, serves as consultant on active or potential disease patterns, causation, potential remedial actions and other relevant local health information to physicians, nurses, community leaders, public health officials, media, and the public; participates in agency strategic planning activities including development of objectives and measures of success; utilizes and improves computer-based storage, retrieval and analysis systems for epidemiologic studies and analysis; develops forms and written procedures to gather and organize data; writes a variety of reports for the Public Health Officer, and others as directed, to explain findings; prepares readily understood tables and graphs; instructs department staff in gathering data, entering information into data systems, and in performing less difficult statistical analyses to extract useful health information; participates in the development and preparation of project proposals for state, federal and private foundation funding; may recommend, evaluate and test appropriate software acquisitions for department; and may supervise, train, assign and evaluate work of assigned staff.

As needed, work with a team to investigate COVID-19 cases, clusters, and outbreaks. Work in CalREDIE and other large databases performing data cleaning, mining, merging, and matching. Provide timely community-based surveillance and reporting of vulnerable populations, those in congregate living settings, other high-risk population groups, and the broader community. Provide consultation to public health staff concerning research methodology and design, including data collection and validation. Provide consultation to public health leadership concerning epidemiologic findings and recommend interventions and control measures.  

QUALIFICATIONS

Any combination of education and experience sufficient to directly demonstrate possession and application of the following:

Knowledge of: Principles and methods of public health practice, collecting, tabulating and interpreting public health and medical statistical data; the principles of demography, biostatistics and epidemiology as applied to health and social problems; sample size determination; computer data processing methods to generate, organize and display statistical data; methods of projecting population trends and characteristics; professional literature and current trends in epidemiology and public health practice; effective communication techniques; and grant proposal writing.

Ability to: Provide effective technical assistance, consultation and, where appropriate, training to Public Health Department staff; utilize data base, word processing, and communications software applications; familiarity or ability to learn appropriate applications including communicable disease reporting systems such as CalREDIE; statistical analysis programs such as Stata or SPSS; and other relevant applications including Microsoft Access and ArcGIS; develop and maintain cooperative working relationships with staff, community agencies and the public, both lay and professional; speak clearly, concisely and logically; use tact and persuasion in eliciting information, explaining and advocating in regard to community health status goals and objectives; write, learn to write, and/or assist department staff in preparation of public health related applications for state or federal funding, or foundation grants or reports; interpret data and draw valid conclusions; provide accurate and appropriately referenced information in response to data requests; write clear, concise reports, including easily understood tables and graphs; develop realistic implementation plans, work schedules and cost estimates of proposed activities; set priorities and meet deadlines; keep supervisor informed in a timely manner regarding progress on projects, schedule, or cost estimates and problems encountered; and plan, initiate and complete work assignments with minimal supervision.

These employment standards are typically attained with:

EITHER

Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with 20 semester units in the biological, social, physical or health sciences, public health, nursing, statistics, health planning or a closely related field AND two (2) years of technical experience in public health epidemiology, complex data analysis, or program evaluation activities; 

OR

A master’s degree in public health with an emphasis in epidemiology or biostatistics to be completed prior to hire date. 

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONS

Responses to the following must be submitted with a completed application.

1. Have you graduated from an accredited four-year college or university with 20 semester units in the biological, social, physical or health sciences, public health, nursing, statistics, health planning or a closely related field? If yes, please list the courses and number of college units per class. If no, please type “N/A”.

1. Do you have work experience with Public Health epidemiology? Yes/No

1. If yes, how many years of experience and with which organization(s)? If no, please type "N/A".

1. Do you have work experience with data analysis? Yes/No 

1. If yes, how many years of experience and with which organization(s)? If no, please type "N/A".

1. Do you have work experience with program evaluation? Yes/No

1. If yes, how many years of experience and with which organization(s)? If no, please type "N/A".

1. Do you have any experience with communicable disease data analysis? Yes/No

1. If yes, how many years of experience and with which organization(s)? If no, please type “N/A”.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, reach with hands and arms, and talk or hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

• All new employees are required to have their paycheck directly deposited to a bank account.
• Some positions may require a valid California driver's license and acceptable driving record according to County policy.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made for those persons who are disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act to perform the essential functions of the position.
• As part of the selection process, all individuals provided with a preliminary offer of employment with Shasta County will be subject to a background investigation, including a criminal history check (primarily completed through the taking of fingerprints). An image of your fingerprints will be captured and sent to the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The resulting report of your conviction history, (if any), will be evaluated along with the other information received in connection with your application. Except as otherwise required by law, a criminal conviction will not necessarily disqualify you from the position. The nature of the offense, the date of the offense, the surrounding circumstances, and the relevance of the offense to the position applied for may, however, be considered.
• Based on the results of the background investigation and criminal history check, applicants may then be provided with an offer of employment conditioned on the results of a medical examination, which includes drug/alcohol testing.
• Shasta County participates in E-Verify. For more information visit https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RighttoWorkPoster.pdf (Download PDF reader). If you do not have internet access, contact Personnel at (530) 225-5515 to request a flyer.
• In accordance with Government Code Section 3100, County employees, in the event of a disaster are considered disaster workers and may be asked to respond accordingly.
• Positions in this classification are covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the County and the United Public Employees of California – General.
• Employees in this classification are covered under the CalPERS retirement program. Depending on the provisions of the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) and other applicable laws, an employee in this classification will be covered under one of the following CalPERS retirement formulas: (1) 2% at 55, (2) 2% at 60, or (3) 2% at 62. An employee in this classification will also contribute up to 9.5% his/her pay to this plan or will contribute such other amount to the plan as authorized by PEPRA and other applicable laws. Please visit our employees benefit page at https://www.shastacounty.gov/personnel/page/employee-benefitsfor additional information regarding benefits and CalPERS coverage information. The provisions in this flyer and on the County website are for information purposes only. To the extent the provisions of the flyer or the County website are inconsistent with PEPRA and other applicable laws, PEPRA and other applicable laws shall govern.

APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCEDURES

Shasta County Personnel will accept applications and responses to the supplemental questions until 5:00 p.m., on March 13, 2025. A Resume and/or Cover Letter will be accepted in addition to the application form but will not serve as a substitute for a completed application. It is not acceptable to complete the application with statements such as, “Refer to Resume and/or Cover Letter,” or “See Attached Resume and/or Cover Letter” the employment application must be completed in its entirety prior to submission. Incomplete applications will not be processed. Closing date postmarks or faxes will NOT be accepted. This recruitment will establish a list that may or may not be used by other departments. Prior applicants must reapply to be considered. 

Applicants will be screened and those considered best qualified will be invited to appear for an oral and/or written examination. Meeting the announced requirements does not guarantee inclusion into the selection process. Depending upon the number of applications received, the selection process may consist of additional application screening, written and/or practical exam(s), oral interview, or any combination thereof. 

Veterans' Credit:Veterans (as defined by California Government Code section 18973) who have been discharged from military service under conditions other than dishonorable and who receive a passing score on all components of the employment examinations (up to and including oral examinations) shall receive credit for an additional five points to be added to their final examination score. To be considered for this credit, a veteran MUST provide a copy of his or her discharge document (DD-214 or equivalent) and information as to the type of discharge (honorable, dishonorable, etc.) WITH THE EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION ON OR BEFORE THE FINAL FILING DATE. 

Applicants are encouraged to apply on-line at www.ShastaCountyCareers.com or submit an application to the Shasta County Personnel Office.

Arrangements may be made to accommodate applicants with disabilities. Requests for accommodations may be made to the Shasta County Personnel Office by the filing deadline posted on this bulletin. Shasta County does not discriminate on the basis of disability. If you feel you are being denied service based on a disability, our ADA Coordinator may be reached at (530) 225-5515; relay service (800) 735-2922; fax (530) 225-5345.

Shasta County will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history pursuant to the California Fair Chance Act. You do not need to disclose your criminal history or participate in a background check until a conditional job offer is made to you. After making a conditional offer and running a background check, if Shasta County is concerned about a conviction that is directly related to the job, you will be given the chance to explain the circumstances surrounding the conviction, provide mitigating evidence, or challenge the accuracy of the background report. Find out more about the Fair Chance Act by visiting calcivilrights.ca.gov/fair-chance-act.

SHASTA COUNTY IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Shasta County Personnel

1450 Court Street, Suite 348; Redding, CA 96001; (530) 225-5515