CDC Influenza Informatics and Epidemiology Fellowship

One research opportunity is currently available within the Influenza Division (ID), National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) located in Atlanta, Georgia.

The mission of the Influenza Division is to improve global control and prevention of seasonal and novel influenza and to improve influenza pandemic preparedness and response. In collaboration with domestic and global partners, ID accomplishes this mission by building surveillance and response capacity, monitoring and assessing influenza viruses and illness, improving vaccines and other interventions, and applying research to provide science-based enhancement of prevention and control policies and programs.

This available project offers a unique opportunity to train across two distinct teams in the CDC ID: The Domestic Surveillance Team in the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch and the division’s Informatics Group. The ID Informatics Group and Epi Surveillance Team are collaborating on foundational projects to capture and advance direct device reporting of influenza and other respiratory disease testing results for national surveillance purposes. Within this dual team setting, the participant will have access to mentors with combined expertise totaling decades of experience in influenza epidemiological surveillance and applied bioinformatics.

The participant will have multiple advanced training opportunities within the direct device reporting space. In particular, training will be provided on the existing infrastructure that currently supports public health laboratory reporting of influenza, vaccine-preventable disease results, and next-generation sequencing results from domestic influenza reference centers. In the course of piloting direct device reporting strategies and participating in associated data analytics, the participant could also have opportunities to collaborate with other divisions within NCIRD such as the Division of Viral Diseases. Importantly, the participant will be involved in technical discussions between CDC and informatics contacts from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), which in initial stages will include APHL/CDC finalizing data usage agreements with device manufacturers. APHL maintains a cloud-based informatics infrastructure, the APHL Informatics Messaging Services (AIMS) platform, which combined with CDC and the participant’s technical experience could be leveraged to enable the integration of direct device reporting. This multidisciplinary project and exploratory analyses conducted by the participant could ultimately contribute to increased flexibility and automation of pathogen-agnostic reporting mechanisms with real-time laboratory result streaming capabilities.

This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and CDC. The initial appointment can be up to one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of CDC contingent on the availability of funds. The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. The appointment is full-time at CDC in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. Participants do not become employees of CDC, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits.