Fellowship FAQ

The Rollins Epidemiology Fellowship Program is a 2-year intensive, applied epidemiology training program in state and local public health in Georgia. The goal of the program is to cultivate talented epidemiologists well-equipped to address current public health threats and eager to apply their knowledge, creativity, and passion to a career in epidemiology.

The Outbreak Analytic Fellowship Program is a 2-year data-focused training program for early-career Master’s-level data scientists with at least one year of experience. Fellows complete a two-year term within one of Georgia’s 18 local health districts or at the Georgia Department of Public Health. Fellows are connected to and supported by the CDC-funded  Emory Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analytics Training Hub (CIDMATH) and will complete additional analytics trainings and coursework. 

In short, the Outbreak Analytic Fellowship requires a little more experience and has a stronger focus on surveillance and outbreak analytics. Details on the differences between the two can be found on the Which Fellowship is Right for Me? tab.

The Rollins Epidemiology Fellowship program is designed for recent (within the past 3 years) Master of Public Health (MPH) graduates in epidemiology or a related concentration. Recent graduates from any CEPH-accredited school or program of public health can apply. 

The Outbreak Analytic Fellowship is designed for Master’s level graduates in the fields of Applied Mathematics, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, or Health Informatics, or a similar field. Unlike the Rollins Epidemiology fellowship, OA fellows must have 1-2 years of post-Master’s experience 

Those who attended Master’s programs in Georgia or in the Southeast are strongly encouraged to apply. 

The salary will be $57,000. Rollins Epidemiology Fellows are hired as full-time Emory employees and have access to health, leave, education, and other employer-provided benefits. For additional information, please visit: hr.emory.edu. 

 

The salary will be $61,000. Outbreak Analytic Fellows are hired as full-time Emory employees and have access to health, leave, education, and other employer-provided benefits. For additional information, please visit: hr.emory.edu. 

 

Yes, for both the Rollins Epidemiology Fellowship and the Outbreak Analytic Fellowship, each fellow has $2,000 available over the course of their fellowship for professional development opportunities. This can be used for conference-related travel and expenses, additional trainings, certifications related to work in the health district, etc.

Yes, Emory University is a non-profit organization and therefore the two years a fellow works in the fellowship do count towards the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program for federal student loans. For additional information, please visit: https://studentaid.gov/pslf/

Review the open Fellowship positions and affiliated projects posted on the open position pages for either the Rollins Epidemiology Fellowship or the Outbreak Analytic Fellowship. Each project will have its own individual application link, and applicants should apply to the specific locations/projects they are interested in. 

While we do not require a cover letter, applicants who would like to provide one should make it generalizable to the fellowship as a whole and not tailor it for each location/project. 

We are receiving and reviewing applications on a rolling basis through April 2024. The application deadline is April 17, 2024. Initial screenings and interviews will happen through April, and qualified applicant information will be sent to health districts for review. Health District interviews will occur in April and May, with final decisions made in May and June of 2024. 

Outbreak Analytics Fellows will start Friday, July 12th before completing 3 weeks of training at the 2024 Summer Institute in Statistics and Modeling in Infectious Diseases.

Rollins Epidemiology Fellows  will officially start August 5, 2024.  

August 5 – August 9 will be an all-fellows orientation and training week at Emory University before fellows start with their respective health district sites on Monday, August 12th. 

Letters of recommendation are not required for either fellowship. If you are applying to the Outbreak Analytic Fellowship, a transcript is required for consideration. A transcript is not required for the Rollins Epidemiology Fellowship. 

The fellows’ day-to-day responsibilities are assigned by a site supervisor at their placement site based on the health district’s priorities. Each fellow’s experience will vary and no two days are the same! 

Rollins Epidemiology Fellows will work within the local health district’s epidemiology team as a level 1 epidemiologist and can expect to engage with a variety of epidemiologic activities such as case and outbreak investigations, surveillance system data entry, data cleaning and management, data analysis, and preparing epidemiology reports. 

Outbreak Analytic Fellows will work as early-career epidemiologists in their assigned health districts, and most of their work will be data-heavy projects that focus on outbreak and surveillance analytics. This may include collaborating with senior epi staff to collect data, conduct advanced statistical analyses, and interpret epidemiologic data for reports to the community. 

In addition to regular daily duties, the fellows need to complete an oral or poster presentation, an evaluation or quality improvement project, and a significant analytic project assigned by or developed together with the site supervisor. Information on suggested projects for each district is provided in the position descriptions above.

Fellows will be given support and training by the fellowship program based on six epidemiology-relevant core competencies. Past trainings have covered topics like public health ethics, strengths-based leadership, public speaking, data analysis using R, and media training. 

Beyond support provided by the health district team, all fellows will be assigned an Emory-based academic mentor. This is one of the most unique aspects to our program. This mentor is an Emory faculty or staff member who has professional experience working with or within Georgia’s public health system. Mentorship groups meet regularly to discuss career guidance, project advice, and general mentorship.