Assistant Commissioner -Division of Population Health Assessment
The Division of Population Health Assessment oversees the acquisition, processing, stewardship and analysis of population level data, including:
• Hospital discharge data
• Ambulatory surgery treatment center data
• Outpatient diagnostic and treatment center data
• Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)
• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
• Cancer Registry
The Division manages federal grants related to BRFSS, PRAMS, the Cancer Registry, and occupational safety (NIOSH). Additionally, there is a state grant from the Governor’s Highway Safety Office that supports injury surveillance.
Position Description:
The Assistant Commissioner is an executive level position responsible for the overall operation of the Division of Population Health Assessment. The datasets housed within this program are used to generate valuable statistical reports to drive public health programming and population health improvement initiatives.
The Assistant Commissioner leads a team of experts, including epidemiologists, statistical specialists, and administrative professionals in implementing the Departmental vision for timely, accurate, complete, and available data. This position is responsible for providing vision, guidance, and supervision of the day to day operations in the Division and representing the Division at Departmental and interdepartmental meetings. Coordination and collaboration with other divisions/offices within the Department and with other state agencies is critical to assuring that we have the most accurate and complete data on which to base public health programs and policies.
Position-specific activities include:
• Develop yearly and 3-5 year program plan for the Unit.
• Write grant proposals, alone and as part of a team.
• Hire, plan, and direct the work of the Division. Responsible for the supervision of epidemiologists, statistical specialists and other team staff, including appraisals, planning and directing their work, approving leave, and having the authority for hiring and taking disciplinary action or effectively recommending such actions.
• Coordinate production of regular statistical reports for a variety of audiences.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to improve timeliness of data collection, analysis, and reporting;
• Oversee the development and implementation of systems to collect, analyze, and display data;
• Partner with other TDH divisions and offices to coordinate fulfillment of data requests in accordance with TDH policies related to data release;
• Engage internal and external stakeholders to increase data availability (in accordance with federal and state laws and departmental policies related to privacy);
• Provide fiscal and administrative oversight to a variety of federal grants and state funded programs, including development of grant applications and implementation of work plans and oversight of any contractors who are implementing elements of the work programs;
• Oversee the development and submission of progress reports, data and evaluation reports, fiscal reports and other materials to federal and state funders to meet all required evaluation and reporting criteria of the grants;
• Create a culture where staff are motivated to take reasonable risk, to continuously improve their skills, and to contribute to the broader public health body of knowledge; and
• Represent the various program areas with federal project officers, state leaders and others.
• Actively participate as a part of the Commissioner’s Executive Leadership Team.
The position will supervise staff who:
• Produce statistical reports for a variety of audiences.
• Conduct statistical analysis of surveillance data housed in administrative datasets (hospital discharge, ambulatory surgery treatment center and outpatient diagnostic and treatment center datasets), population surveys (BRFSS and PRAMS), and the cancer registry.
• Produce annual morbidity reports and regular statistical summaries. This involves distributing reports and posting them to the Department website as well as working with Informatics and IT staff to make data available through online portals.
• Provide epidemiological consultation, technical assistance and training to enhance or improve the design and operation of existing surveillance systems.
• Develop, implement and evaluate current and new population health surveillance programs as authorized by the Department or mandated by the legislature.
• Provide statistical consultation to county health departments and other partners regarding healthcare statistics and various health conditions.
Minimum qualifications:
There is no formal job description for this classification. The position is EXECUTIVE SERVICE and serves at the pleasure of the appointing authority of the department
The ideal candidate will have a PhD in epidemiology or biostatistics, or MPH, MSPH, MS in epidemiology, or equivalent degree or an advanced degree in a health-related field (i.e., RN, MD, or DVM), and completed graduate level biostatics courses. Extensive program administration experience is required.
Preferred qualifications:
The ideal candidate will have:
• Strong data analysis skills
• Experience with analysis software such as SAS, SPSS, Access, SQL, or other analytical tools
• Expertise in survey design and analysis
• Firm understanding of public health surveillance and of surveillance system evaluation methods
• Familiarity with database structure and design
• The ability to lead and mentor others and function as a team player
• Excellent leadership, written and oral communication skills
• Previous supervisory experience
• Knowledge of public health informatics
All interested candidates should submit a resume and cover letter describing relevant experience via email to
Questions can be addressed to Dr. Michael Warren at .
Pursuant to the State of Tennessee’s Workplace Discrimination and Harassment policy, the State is firmly committed to the principle of fair and equal employment opportunities for its citizens and strives to protect the rights and opportunities of all people to seek, obtain, and hold employment without being subjected to illegal discrimination and harassment in the workplace. It is the State’s policy to provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment of an individual because of that person’s race, color, national origin, age (40 and over), sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, disability, veteran’s status or any other category protected by state and/or federal civil rights laws.