Volume 3.6 | September 3, 2019
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Forming a Multidisciplinary Team to Improve Rural Health
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The Department of Population Science and Policy’s strength is in its faculty and staff. PSP is fortunate to have built an organizational structure with varied expertise and research interests as well as personal and professional backgrounds.
This diversity was created by design so each team member offers a unique perspective when collaborating with communities in PSP's 66-county service region of mostly-rural central and southern Illinois. No one rural area is identical to another and no two communities share the exact same set of challenges. PSP’s diverse expertise brings a wealth of knowledge, fresh viewpoints and unique solutions to its projects to improve the health and wellness of Illinois communities, which is one of the reasons why the Department is often used as a rural health consultant.
The Department of Population Science and Policy needs more people to help expand its work and fulfill its mission of creating a healthier central and southern Illinois. Headquartered in Springfield, Illinois, PSP has
open positions
for virtually all experience levels – from (paid) interns to experienced thought leaders.
Learn more about our open positions and current research priorities below:
Research Project Specialist
(BA/BS)
:
This entry-level position provides operational support for community-based population science and policy activities. Candidates should possess strong interpersonal skills necessary to maintain cooperative working relationships with PSP employees, physician faculty and other research staff; computer skills and proficiency with various software packages including, but not limited to, MS Office (Access, Word, Excel and PowerPoint); demonstrate analytical skills necessary in order to gather, organize and tabulate data; and knowledge of pharmaceutical and medical terminology.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
(PhD)
:
This position provides coordination and facilitation of varied population science research projects. This position will also assist with analysis and interpretation of research findings; organize and prepare data for research grant proposals, presentations and publications; assist with clinical research protocol development; and assist with manuscript development, writing and submission.
Research Assistant Professor – Biostatistician / Bioinformatician / Clinical Epidemiologist
(PhD)
:
This position provides expertise in database creation and maintenance, computer and statistical programming, study design and advanced statistical methodologies for population science-based research and programs.
The position requires expertise in behavioral and population-based research studies with the goal of changing health outcomes in central and southern Illinois through big data analysis.
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The Department of Population Science and Policy is an innovative, inspiring place to work. Southern Illinois University School of Medicine provides ample opportunities for career development and a very generous benefits program.
Learn more
about working at SIU Medicine – and if you know someone who would be a good fit for PSP, please direct them to
[email protected]
to learn more.
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PSP narrows its focus to the most pressing issues in rural central and southern Illinois. Faculty and staff special interests are important factors when choosing new projects. A sample of PSP projects, priorities and day-to-day work is included below.
- Opioid misuse epidemiology and intervention: PSP was awarded a National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse Rural Opioid Initiative grant, involving the health and healthcare of opioid and other drug users in rural Illinois.
- Rural-urban and other cancer disparities: PSP has multiple active cancer research grants.
- Sexually transmitted infection epidemiology: PSP is developing proposals for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) expansion into rural areas and also aims to learn more about aspects of sexually transmitted infection risk in the context of HIV infection and opioid misuse.
- Nutrition: PSP has two active projects focused on youth nutrition.
- Children and Families: Human and Community Development projects are focused on children and/or families. Projects include educating parents on baby brain development and youth mental health.
- Rural Health Policy: PSP is developing policy briefs to reduce rural health disparities through legislative action.
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The Department of Population Science and Policy is working in conjunction with the Southern Illinois University system to present a
Veteran’s Summit
on September 12-13, 2019, at the Mt. Vernon Armory in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. The first day will include an invitation-only Veteran's Summit Symposium with speakers, discussion groups and presenters to inform and instruct individuals who serve veterans in health, education or legal capacities. The second day of the Summit is open to the public and will feature a Veteran's Resource Connection Fair to provide veterans with health and dental assessment screenings and referrals, home test kits for colorectal cancer, legal advice and/or referrals and education benefits counseling and advisement.
Learn More
and
register
for the Summit – and please help spread the word on social media.
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The Department of Population Science and Policy works closely with agencies and organizations which share similar missions to improve health outcomes. PSP is honored some of these partners have recently shared PSP’s information in their newsletters and websites. The USDA Health Care Partners newsletter (subscribe
here
) recently gave PSP a nice shout out and invited PSP Assistant Professor Anne Scheer to share her work during a conference call with its Midwest health care partners. The Department was also featured in a
blog post
by the Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS), and Dr. Vohra appeared in an extended
post
as a de Beaumont Foundation 40 Under 40 in Public Health award recipient.
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