HHS Healthy Start Data and Evaluation Fellowship

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• An application
• Transcripts –
• A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
• One educational or professional recommendation. Your application will be considered incomplete, and will not be reviewed until one recommendation is submitted.

All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.

• Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.

HHS Office and Location: A research opportunity is currently available with the Division of Healthy Start and Perinatal Services (DHSPS), Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) located in Rockville, Maryland.

The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services.

Research Project: This role is located in the Maternal and Child Health Bureau's (MCHB) Division of Healthy Start and Perinatal Services (DHSPS). The ORISE fellow will participate in the DHSPS Data and Evaluation team to provide evaluation subject matter expertise and technical guidance on the analysis of program and evaluation data for the Healthy Start program (https://mchb.hrsa.gov/programs-impact/healthy-start). The Healthy Start program (HS) provides community funding to improve maternal and child health outcomes and reduce racial/ethnic differences in these outcomes. Since it was established in 1991, the program has evolved to include lessons learned from emerging research and past evaluations. The appointment will provide the ORISE Fellow with opportunities to observe, learn from, and apply new analytic and methodological approaches within the parameters of programmatic and policy decision making processes. Under the guidance of a mentor, the appointment activities may include, but are not limited to:

• Collaborating with the Data and Evaluation Team to support the design, collection, analysis, synthesis, and reporting of HS program and evaluation data, including grantee performance measures;
• Supporting the planning and implementation of HS evaluation efforts such as grantee case studies and enhanced data collection protocols;
• Planning and implementing qualitative analysis of grantee progress reports;
• Planning and implementing review and synthesis of local grantee evaluation efforts;
• Supporting efforts to translate evaluation findings into data visualization products and communication materials, such as grantee data profiles, to inform program and funding decisions and enable dissemination of information for internal and external audiences.
• Supporting the development of manuscripts and reports describing HS program, policy, data and evaluation efforts, outcomes, best practices, and lessons learned.

Learning Objectives: Appointment learning objectives include:

Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Maura Dwyer (mdwyer@hrsa.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor(s).

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: September 15, 2023. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.

Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of HHS and is contingent on the availability of funds.

Level of Participation: The appointment is full-time.

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 and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR).

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 HHS. Participants do not become employees of HHS, 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 HHSrpp@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.

The qualified candidate should have received a master's or doctoral degree in one of the relevant fields (e.g. Public Health), or be currently pursuing one of the degrees with completion before August 15, 2023. Degree must have been received within the past five years.

Preferred Skills:

• Public health experience, ideally in maternal and child health
• Quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills (e.g., SAS, SPSS, STATA, R, nVivo, Atlas.TI)
• Strong interest in gaining additional evaluation design, data management, performance monitoring, and analytic skills
• Ability to perform independent tasks and collaborate collectively with a team to achieve project goals
• Strong oral and written communication skills and experience with writing and editing of documents
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint

• Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
• Degree: Master's Degree or Doctoral Degree received within the last 60 months or anticipated to be received by 8/15/2023 11:59:00 PM.
• Discipline(s):
  • Communications and Graphics Design
  • Computer, Information, and Data Sciences
  • Life Health and Medical Sciences
  • Mathematics and Statistics
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Veteran Status: Veterans Preference, degree received within the last 120 month(s).