Public Health Literature Review

The EPA National Student Services Contract has an immediate opening for a full time Public Health Literature Review position with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Research Triangle Park, NC.

The Office of Research and Development at the EPA supports high-quality research to improve the scientific basis for decisions on national environmental issues and help EPA achieve its environmental goals. Research is conducted in a broad range of environmental areas by scientists in EPA laboratories and at universities across the country.

What the EPA project is about

The Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment (CPHEA) provides the science needed to understand the complex interrelationship between people and nature in support of assessments and policy to protect human health and ecological integrity. Within CPHEA, the Public Health and Environmental Systems Division (PHESD) focuses on the interrelationships between people and their environment, promotes human health and well-being, and fosters healthy and safe communities. PHESD scientists develop and evaluate measurements, methods, and models to better understand and quantify exposures and their effects on public health and the environment. The Division conducts innovative research on characterizing human and ecological exposures and understanding the impacts of these exposures on both human health and ecological integrity.

As a team member, you will work with researchers on projects focused on updating topics found in the Exposure Factors Handbook (EFH; https://www.epa.gov/expobox/about-exposure-factors-handbook). The EFH was last updated in its entirety in 2011. Since then, selected individual chapters have been updated as new information has been published. However, only a handful of chapters have been updated. The EFH is the authoritative resource on various human factors used in assessing exposure. It provides a summary of the available statistical data on these human factors, including drinking water consumption, soil ingestion, inhalation rates, dermal factors including skin area and soil adherence factors, consumption of fruits and vegetables, fish, meats, dairy products, homegrown foods, human milk intake, human activity factors, consumer product use, and building characteristics. The EFH links to other Agency resources (e.g., ExpoBox and ExpoFirst). These additional resources may need to be updated as a result of updates to the EFH.

How you will apply your skills

Analytical responsibilities:

Conducting literature reviews using systematic review principles to identify relevant literature for chapters to be updated;
• Conducting statistical analyses of data mined from the relevant publications; and
• Writing text for website updates.

Management and Administrative responsibilities:

• Assisting with the development of tools to survey Agency staff on topics to be updated;
• Assisting with development of quality assurance project plan, data management plan, analysis plan and statistical design for data extracted from relevant literature;
• Assisting with the management and documentation of literature on topics selected for updating;
• Conducting scientific literature searches (e.g., PubMed, Google Scholar) and critically evaluating literature using systematic review principles; and
• Extracting, formatting, cleaning, linking, merging, documenting and managing data for analysis.

Communications-related responsibilities:

• Participating as a member of a multi-disciplinary research team, including regular staff meetings;
• Interacting with EPA scientists and outside collaborators and stakeholders;
• Preparing detailed documentation of their efforts; and
• Preparing scientific presentation materials and manuscripts on their work.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

• Demonstrated experience in exposure science and statistical methods;
• Demonstrated experience working in teams;
• Proficiency with statistical analyses and programming using R and/or SAS and/or Python;
• Proficiency in critical review and synthesis of environmental science literature;

• Strong communication skills (i.e., written, oral, presentation abilities); and
• Strong organizational skills (i.e., note taking, distributing/following-up on action items, convening meetings).

Location: This job will be located EPA's facility in Research Triangle Park, NC.

Salary: Selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $32.01 for hours worked.

Hours: Full-time.

Travel: Occasional local travel may be required.

Expected start date: The position is full time and expected to begin July 2024. The selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU working as a contractor to EPA.

For more information, contact EPANSSC@orau.org. Do not contact EPA directly.

• Be at least 18 years of age and
• Have earned at least a Master of Science or Master of Public Health degree in exposure science, biostatistics, environmental health, computational biology, environmental science, public health, environmental engineering, or other closely related field from an accredited university or college within the last 24 months and
• Be a citizen of the United States of America or a Legal Permanent Resident.

EPA ORD employees, their spouses, and children are not eligible to participate in this program.