The Wastewater Epidemiology Fellow will coordinate with internal and external partners to integrate data from the Wastewater Monitoring Program with other public health surveillance data to enhance awareness, preparedness, and response to infectious disease. The fellow will develop code in R and conceptual frameworks to characterize the quantification of pathogens in wastewater and the process for escalating concerning results or trends. The fellow will also work to evaluate the performance of wastewater surveillance in comparison to other near real-time public health surveillance systems, such as syndromic surveillance. Put simply, this role will be responsible for implementing wastewater surveillance for holistic public health surveillance with an emphasis on health equity.
The Boston Public Health Commission does not have a laboratory and contracts with third-party laboratories to perform analyses and third-party technicians to collect wastewater, so this is not a laboratory or field-work position.
The mission of the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) is to work in partnership with communities to protect and promote the health and well-being of all Boston residents, especially those impacted by racism and systemic inequities. The BPHC sets an expectation that all staff and leadership commit, individually and as part of the BPHC team, to hold ourselves accountable to establishing a culture of anti-racism and advance racial equity and justice through each of our bureaus, programs, and offices.