Position summary:

HIDTA Programs across the country focus on reducing drug trafficking and its harmful consequences, particularly drug abuse and drug-related crime. HIDTA programs invest in federal, state, and local partnerships to build safe and healthy communities. Each HIDTA serves as a force-multiplier in their region, leveraging resources and joining agencies toward a common goal. Five HIDTAs spanning Appalachia, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast developed the Heroin Response Strategy (HRS) to address the severe heroin threat in their communities. The HRS places Drug Intelligence Officers (DIOs) and Drug Policy Analysts in fifteen states to work within each state and across regions. This Analyst position will be supervised by the NY/NJ HIDTA and based out of the NYS Department of Health in Albany, New York. The Analyst will gather, analyze, and distribute drug-related health and safety data, develop and support data-driven policy and programming initiatives, and facilitate interagency, public health-public safety collaboration in the region. Funding for this position is guaranteed for 12 months from the start of employment.

 
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Gather, organize, maintain, and analyze drug abuse indicator data for public health surveillance, with a particular focus on drug overdose death data. Serve as a general data analytic resource to public health agencies involved in substance use surveillance.
• Inventory and facilitate collaboration between existing public health program areas within the New York State Department of Health and other agencies including public safety entities to identify program overlap and opportunities for integration through data sharing and policy discussions, in coordination with the state DIO.
• Develop and maintain relationships with other professionals in the policy, public health, legal, law enforcement, substance abuse provider, and consumer/family support fields.
• Analyze datasets to inform policy and public health surveillance. Contribute analysis and reporting to HRS projects and HIDTA assessments, as needed. Report and present analyses to be shared with key local, regional and state partners.
• Identify roles of governmental agencies, non-profit and other entities in opioid prevention at the state and local levels.
• Coordinate meetings of Opioid Steering Committee including setup, agenda development and dissemination of meeting summaries to share information across program areas.
• Respond to ad hoc requests for policy research or information on emerging drug trends.
• Assist with and assess public health and public safety drug-related data needs, programs and initiatives.

 
Qualifications:

• 3+ years of work experience required.
• Solid command of Statistical Analysis System (SAS), MS Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, including expertise in formatting and design of reports, charts, graphs, and tables.
• Skill in synthesizing and interpreting data, preparing and presenting reports, research and writing (writing sample will be requested).

 
Educational Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree and relevant experience, or a relevant doctorate.
• Prior experience analyzing drug use-related data, GIS/mapping, policy analysis, and familiarity with criminal justice, drug policy, drug abuse prevention, and drug abuse related public health work.

 
Location:

• New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York  12237

Commitment:

• A one year commitment to the hiring bureau.