Job Description

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 mission of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) Bureau of Immunization (BOI) is to prevent the occurrence and transmission of diseases through immunization. The BOI promotes the immunization of children and adults against numerous diseases such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type B, polio, human papillomavirus, mpox, influenza, pneumococcal disease, respiratory syncytial virus, and COVID-19. BOI also administers the Vaccine For Children Program which distributes publicly purchased vaccines to over 1,300 provider offices across NYC for administration to children and adolescents from low-income families. The Citywide Immunization Registry (CIR), a database of immunizations reported to DOHMH to help ensure that all New Yorkers receive recommended vaccines and are, thereby, protected against vaccine-preventable diseases is also housed within BOI.

This position will report to the CIR Director and will be responsible for overseeing and coordinating immunization quality improvement activities as a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) program called Immunization Quality Improvement for Providers (IQIP). IQIP is CDC’s national, VFC provider-level immunization quality improvement (QI) program. IQIP serves to assist and support health care providers by identifying opportunities to improve vaccine uptake This project has been implemented among health care providers participating in the VFC program to raise immunization coverage levels. This position will also be responsible for IQIP data reporting, analysis, and quality assurance.

We strongly encourage people to apply and contribute your diversity in thought, racial identity, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability status, veteran status, and/or LGBTQI+ status to enhance the work of the DOHMH and promote the health of all New Yorkers.

We welcome applicants who share the vision for a city where all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, where they are from or where they live. DOHMH extends this vision of wellness by providing every member of our team and prospective job applicants dynamic benefits: Benefits - NYC Health , and a robust Worksite Wellness program with a wide range of offerings. As a current or prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs.

Please review the notice to see if you may be eligible for programs and how to apply at nyc.gov/studentloans

DUTIES WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:

-Conduct IQIP site visits to VFC provider offices to review CIR reports on the provider’s immunization coverage rates and engages in a clinic workflow analysis to help providers improve their vaccination coverage using CIR tools.
-Routinely analyzes status and progress of all BOI IQIP site visits, check-ins, and follow-ups; prepares and reviews reports, as required.
-Identify barriers to immunization practices during site visits and makes appropriate recommendations to improve immunization delivery.
-Train BOI non-clinical staff on IQIP policies/procedures, effective communication strategies with health care providers, and best practices to support immunization quality improvement strategies.
-Document IQIP site visit data in internal and external tools, databases, and systems and ensures quality of all data entered to these databases and systems are accurate and complete.
-Analyze data to identify health care providers who would most benefit from an IQIP visit and schedules the visits.
-Prepares and develops resources to increase the effectiveness of IQIP site visits.
-Develop IQIP promotional materials and activities.
-Report program activities to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and serves as the IQIP liaison between BOI and CDC.
-Contribute to BOI grant activities.
-Conduct outreach and educates health care providers in large health care facilities and networks to promote the importance of on-time vaccination of children and adolescents.
-Prepare and presents oral presentation and publications
-Participate in other BOI and emergency preparedness activities as assigned.

Qualifications

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.