The successful candidate’s starting pay will fall within the pay ranges listed below. Base salary is localized according to an employee’s work location. Ranges are market-dependent and may be modified in the future.

 

For candidates living in Boston, MA, Denver, CO, New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Sacramento, CA, San Diego, CA, and Washington, DC, the pay range is $86,600 – $100,700.

 

For candidates living in the United States, besides Boston, MA, Denver, CO, New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Sacramento, CA, San Diego, CA, and Washington, DC, the pay range is $73,400 – $85,350.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a US-based role that requires the employee to reside within the 48 contiguous states.

 

The Senior Specialist, Terminologist provides specialized technical expertise, and coordination for APHL Informatics Program activities for the benefit of APHL members, staff, and partner organizations. Working as part of the informatics team, the successful applicant brings the skills and aptitude necessary to coordinate and deliver informatics related services across funded initiatives, specializing in the proper application of public health data standards and tools.

The Senior Specialist manages terminology consultants as needed, and reports to the Principal Specialist, Health IT, Informatics, under the overall supervision of the Director of Informatics.

 

At this time, this position is funded through June 30, 2026 and is dependent upon continued availability of funds.

 

The Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) works to strengthen laboratory systems serving the public’s health in the U.S. and globally. APHL’s member laboratories protect the public’s health by monitoring and detecting infectious and foodborne diseases, environmental contaminants, terrorist agents, genetic disorders in newborns and other diverse health threats.

• Liaise with APHL staff, project sponsors, and stakeholders to define program priorities related to standard terminologies.
• Provide guidance and expertise to manage general public health informatics solutions for the electronic transmission of laboratory data.
• Participate in cooperative agreement scoping, monitoring and evaluation
• Contribute to regular newsletters and other communications highlighting program successes and information.
• Ensure that the interests of state and local public health laboratories and agencies are being considered within the context of the national health information technology domain, specifically in the areas of electronic data exchange standards.
• Assist with policy review and contribute expertise and insight as
• Identify and submit conference proposals, and work with partners to identify speakers, develop agendas, and conference material.
• Provide recommendations, comments, and talking points for APHL membership, senior staff, and federal partners on Informatics issues and priorities.
• Assist in ensuring contractual obligations are met by contracted
• Support overall assessment efforts to measure and track standards and terminology maturity levels at the state and local levels.

Focused

• Contribute to strategic and operational planning of APHL terminology solutions and
• Create and maintain APHL vocabulary tools as well as advise and assist APHL staff and partners on their proper use.
• Provide subject matter expertise to APHL members, other APHL program areas, funders, and partnering organizations regarding Health Language Seven (HL7) standards and terminologies such as LOINC, SNOMED CT, ICD, CPT4, RxNORM, CVX, and UCUM
• Host and attend calls and meetings relating to APHL sponsored interoperability projects,
• Assist in leading the APHL vocabulary team across a portfolio of funded
• Co-author project-related value sets, mapping tools and encoding
• Co-develop and maintain message implementation guides, business rules, and message specifications as needed for APHL member and partner organization support (e.g., result reporting to CDC, order and result related data exchange for Public Health Laboratories and their business partners, etc.).
• As directed, act as liaison to Standards Development Organizations (SDO’s) and represent APHL on relevant working groups.
• As directed, serve as the lead terminologist or lead standards advisor for APHL interoperability projects and partner initiatives and direct vocabulary mapping services for technical assistance recipients.
• Manage vocabulary documentation, and processes
• Document major decisions, lessons learned, and the impact of APHL standards work on interoperability efforts.

• Master’s Degree in Public Health with minimum 3-years of related experience or Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 5 years of relevant experience specifically in laboratory informatics.
• 3-5 years’ practical experience working with recommended standards including: Logical Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) and Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT); knowledge of other related clinical terminologies a plus
• Self-directed and highly organized;
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills;
• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Capable of working under tight deadlines and handling multiple

 

Practical experience and knowledge of:

• Experience with Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network HL7 results reporting highly preferred.
• Governmental contract and project lifecycles, specifically IT lifecycles;
• Familiarity with data modeling, Database design and administration
• Experience with SDO requests for new or updated terms
• Experience submitting value sets for publication (PHIN VADS or VSAC) 
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 (specifically Access and Excel, also Word, Teams, SharePoint etc...),
• Working knowledge of NIST tooling for implementation guide authoring and validation schema definitions as well as test suite building a plus
• Familiarity with Terminology service tooling for code system maintenance a plus
• Familiarity with Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), and Disease Surveillance Systems at the public health laboratory and jurisdiction level a plus
• Atlassian Tools (Confluence and Jira) a plus

APHL Week is a Conference/Convention that is held at the APHL Home Office Bethesda, MD. This event is mandatory for all employees to attend. Travel and lodging will be reimbursed by APHL.

Please Note: Reimbursement for travel and lodging may not be possible for employees that are local to the APHL Home Office.

The duties and responsibilities listed in this job description are illustrative ones anticipated for this position. Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned as required. Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) reserves the right to amend or change this job description to meet the needs of its programs. This job description and any attachments do not constitute or represent a contract.

Work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations will be made for known physical or mental limitations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a colleague to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations will be made for known physical or mental limitations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the role.
During the job, the colleague may need to sit for extended periods, use a computer keyboard to type, read information visually, and communicate orally through a computer monitor.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, protected veteran status, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or any other characteristics protected by applicable law.