To submit your application, scroll to the bottom of this opportunity and click APPLY.

A complete application consists of:

• An application
• Transcripts – Click here for detailed information about acceptable transcripts
• A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
• One educational or professional recommendation. Your application will be considered incomplete, and will not be reviewed until one recommendation is submitted.

All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.

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*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.

CDC Office and Location: A research opportunity is available in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the major operation components of the Department of Health and Human Services. CDC protects America from health, safety and security threats, both foreign and in the U.S. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease and supports communities and citizens to do the same. CDC increases the health security of our nation. As the nation’s health protection agency, CDC saves lives and protects people from health threats. To accomplish its mission, CDC conducts important science and provides health information that protects our nation against expensive and dangerous health threats, and responds when these arise.

Research Project: The selected fellow will have the opportunity to gain applied experience in public health workforce development within the Division of Workforce Development (DWD), Office of Policy, Partnerships, and Recruitment. DWD provides leadership in public health training and education and manages innovative, evidence-based programs designed to prepare the health workforce to meet current and emerging public health challenges.

Under the guidance of experienced public health professionals, you will engage in and learn about projects that support the Office's work in public health policy, strategic partnerships, and recruitment. Through these activities, you will learn how a federal public health organization uses policy analysis, stakeholder engagement, partnership development, outreach, and program evaluation to strengthen a flexible, resilient, and response-ready public health workforce.

Learning Objectives: Learning activities include:

• Public Health Policy: Learn approaches for monitoring and analyzing legislation and emerging policy issues affecting the public health workforce. You may learn how public health professionals develop policy analyses, background materials, leadership talking points, briefings, and other products used to communicate public health workforce priorities and accomplishments. You will gain exposure to federal policy development and implementation, Congressional engagement, issues management, performance reporting, and oversight processes.
• Strategic Partnerships: Learn about activities designed to strengthen collaboration with public health, STEM, academic, governmental, and other organizations. You may learn about how to participate in partner engagement and outreach activities, partnership strategy development, fellowship-related initiatives, and efforts to track and evaluate partnership outcomes and impact. These experiences will provide insight into how national partnerships can support public health workforce priorities and programs.
• Strategic Recruitment: Learn about strategies for identifying, engaging, and connecting prospective candidates with public health fellowship and training opportunities. Activities may include participating in career fairs, conference presentations, national fellowship webinars, candidate outreach, and dissemination of opportunities through online platforms. You may also learn about how to conduct environmental scans of workforce trends and promising practices and help assess outreach activities to identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

Throughout the fellowship, you will develop a broader understanding of the federal public health workforce landscape and gain practical experience in translating information into actionable policy, partnership, and workforce strategies. You will have opportunities to strengthen competencies in policy analysis, strategic communication, partner engagement, partnership development, environmental scanning, program evaluation, project operations, and data-informed decision-making.

The learning experience will also provide exposure to cross-organizational collaboration and demonstrate how policy, partnerships, and recruitment activities can collectively contribute to a highly trained, flexible public health workforce prepared to address emerging public health challenges.

Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is Erin Black (epm7@cdc.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor(s).

Anticipated Appointment Start Date: 2026. Start date is flexible and will depend on a variety of factors.

Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year, but may be renewed upon recommendation of CDC and is contingent on the availability of funds.

Level of Participation: The appointment is full time.

Participant Stipend: Stipend rates may vary based on numerous factors, including opportunity, location, education, and experience. If you are interviewed, you can inquire about the exact stipend rate at that time and if selected, your appointment offer will include the monthly stipend rate.

Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens only.

ORISE Information: This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and CDC. Participants do not become employees of CDC, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.

The successful applicant(s) will be required to comply with Environmental, Safety and Health (ES&H) requirements of the hosting facility, including but not limited to, COVID-19 requirements (e.g. facial covering, physical distancing, testing, vaccination).

Questions: Please visit our Program Website. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process please email CDCrpp@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.

The qualified candidate should have received a master's degree in one of the relevant fields. Degree must have been received within the past five years.

Preferred Skills:

• Academic background or demonstrated interest in public health.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with an interest in developing briefings, summaries, presentations, and other materials for diverse audiences.
• Interest in learning about federal public health policy, legislative activities, and the policymaking process.
• Ability to conduct research, environmental scans, and analysis and synthesize information into clear, actionable findings.
• Interest in partnership development, engagement, and collaboration with governmental, academic, public health, STEM, and other organizations.
• Strong organizational and project coordination skills, including the ability to engage in multiple projects and activities.
• Interest in program evaluation, performance measurement, and data-informed continuous quality improvement.
• Ability to participate with multidisciplinary teams and engage professionally with internal and external partners.
• Demonstrated initiative, curiosity, adaptability, and willingness to learn in a dynamic public health environment.
• Interest in public health workforce recruitment, fellowship programs, career development, and community-building strategies.

• Citizenship: U.S. Citizen Only
• Degree: Master's Degree received within the last 60 month(s).
• Discipline(s):
  • Life Health and Medical Sciences (1 )

 I certify that I have not previously been employed by CDC or by a contractor working directly for CDC.  I understand that CDC does not permit individuals with a prior employment relationship with CDC or its contractors to participate as trainees in the ORISE program. (Exceptions may be granted for individuals who, since the previous CDC employment, have obtained a new STEM degree which necessitates training in a new field.)