Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.
As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.
Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:
1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change
Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.
PROGRAM AND JOB DESCRIPTION:
The Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care and Treatment (BADUPCT) works to reduce morbidity and mortality related to alcohol and substance use among New Yorkers through contracting and oversight of prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery and support services; policy analysis and development; epidemiology, surveillance, and evaluation; development and dissemination of treatment and management guidelines; harm reduction initiatives; public and provider outreach and education; and community involvement and interagency collaboration. The Bureau amplifies the voices of those most impacted by alcohol and substance use and focuses on inequitable structural, social, service, and communication factors that drive disparities.
The Office of Research and Surveillance within BADUPCT conducts alcohol- and drug-related surveillance, program evaluation, and research, maintains databases, designs research protocols, produces reports, writes scientific articles for peer-reviewed journals, and facilitates program and policy development.
Job Description:
The Bureau seeks a Drug-Checking Program Manager to report to the Director of Special Projects and serve as an integral part of the Office of Research and Surveillance overseeing the Bureau’s community-based drug-checking initiative.
Under general direction, with wide latitude for the exercise of independent judgment and initiative, the Drug-Checking Program Manager will:

• Manage all day-to-day activities of the bureau’s drug-checking initiative in community-based settings
• Oversee the training and ongoing continuing education of drug-checking technicians via didactic presentations, observation, and data review
• Design, conduct, and develop new methods of analyses for the bureau’s drug-checking initiative in conjunction with drug-related syndromic surveillance data to inform future program direction
• Develop and refine operational policies and procedures for the drug-checking initiative pertaining to survey administration, results interpretation, and risk reduction education
• Conduct drug-checking as the initiative’s lead technician in community-based settings using the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer and immunoassay test strips
• Collaborate with external laboratory partners that provide secondary testing to ensure data quality
• Analyze and synthesize drug-checking data into concise reports and recommend appropriate public health intervention responses as needed
• Manage reporting of drug-checking data to bureau and agency leadership, community partners, and grant funders
• Manage the planning, design, execution, and coordination of drug-checking research activities within BADUPCT in order to gather, examine, and present evidence on emerging drug issues and the unregulated drug supply in New York City
• Lead concordance analysis of drug-checking results for all drug-checking technicians
• Evaluate recent literature relating to drug-checking and assist in coordinating the research efforts to initiate new research projects
• Strategize and manage community responses to drug-checking data, including the development of materials, presentations, and alerts
• Oversee community engagement activities with partnering drug-checking sites to ensure sustainability of the drug-checking initiative
• Prepare manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed journals and present findings at internal and external meetings including at relevant research conferences
• Participate in multi-agency strategic initiatives aimed at reducing health consequences related to drug use
• Supervise and mentor drug-checking initiative staff (City Research Scientists) who are engaged in substance use interventions, research, and data analysis
• Contribute to the bureau’s racial justice and health equity activities.

**IMPORTANT NOTES TO ALL CANDIDATES:
Please note: If you are called for an interview you will be required to bring to your interview copies of original documentation, such as:

• A document that establishes identity for employment eligibility, such as: A Valid U.S. Passport, Permanent Resident Card/Green Card, or Driver’s license.

• Proof of Education according to the education requirements of the civil service title.

• Current Resume

• Proof of Address/NYC Residency dated within the last 60 days, such as: Recent Utility Bill (i.e. Telephone, Cable, Mobile Phone)

Additional documentation may be required to evaluate your qualification as outlined in this posting’s “Minimum Qualification Requirements” section. Examples of additional documentation may be, but not limited to: college transcript, experience verification or professional trade licenses.
If after your interview you are the selected candidate you will be contacted to schedule an on-boarding appointment. By the time of this appointment you will be asked to produce the originals of the above documents along with your original Social Security card.
**LOAN FORGIVENESS
As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at StudentAid.gov/PSLF.
"FINAL APPOINTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET APPROVAL”