Principal Public Health Medical Officer

Location: Melbourne | CBD

Job type: Full time / 12 Months

Organisation: Department of Health

**Salary**: $130,673 - $174,869

Occupation: Health and Allied Health

Reference: VG/DH/PH/1777886

The Department of Health plays a critical role in the Victorian health system and is responsible for shaping it to meet the health needs of all Victorians. We’re focused on supporting Victorians to be as healthy as they can; whether through alerting them to seasonal risks like thunderstorm asthma, notifying them of contact with communicable diseases, safeguarding their drinking water, developing the best health, wellbeing and care facilities in the world, being at the forefront of mental health and wellbeing treatment or accelerating medical research. It’s all part of the way we partner with the community to help every individual lead a healthy life.

The successful applicant will play a key role in relation to developing, delivering and improving investigation and control activities in Victoria's health protection activities.

This position will be responsible for providing authoritative public health advice, information and direction to departmental officers, management, key stakeholders and members of the community. This job offers an excellent opportunity for those wishing to develop skills in health protection (communicable disease) policy and planning, and public health emergency management and would be suitable for someone undertaking advanced training in public health medicine.

This position is required to participate in an on-call roster and provide response outside of standard business hours and as such the position is expected to be available to contribute to the branch response, including after-hours work and stand-by duties.
- A Medical Practitioner registered with Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority with an interest in public health?
- A public health medicine advanced trainee?
- Skilled and experienced in developing and leading public health and health protection activities?
- Proactive in taking the initiative with a commitment to continuous improvement?

**About us**:
At the Victorian Department of Health we want a future where Victorians are the healthiest people in the world. A Victoria where our children and people thrive, our workplaces are productive and safe, and our communities are more connected.

We see it as our job to support Victorians to stay healthy and safe. And to deliver a world-class healthcare system that ensures every single Victorian can access safe, quality care that leads to better health outcomes for all.

**How you'll make a difference**:
Victoria's Chief Health Officer is responsible for the provision of public health advice to the Minister for Health, the Department of Health, other government stakeholders and the Victorian community, including the exercise of statutory powers under the _Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008_. The Office of the Chief Health Officer works with a range of internal and external stakeholders in relation to the statutory, policy, administrative and strategic priorities of the Chief Health Officer.

**Suitable applicants will be able to demonstrate**:

- Provide expert public health medical, technical and strategic advice and input to policy development, review and reporting on significant issues pertaining to public health issues.
- Provide public health medical advice and information to respond to incidents and emergencies in the range of environmental health and communicable diseases.
- Improve public health outcomes by working collaboratively with Communicable Disease experts on the development of standards, procedures, guidelines and policies.
- Rapidly identify and characterise public health risks allowing interpretation of implications for policy, practice and being able to appropriately prioritise a response.
- Provide timely expert advice and develop open and effective communication strategies including collection of highly complex, contentious, or sensitive information on matters of public health.
- Provide high quality business intelligence, authoritative advice and sound policy recommendations to senior management and government based on comprehensive research.
- Oversee the development of policy and initiatives that meet government and departmental objectives within resourcing, timeline, and budget parameters.
- Review and report on high priority issues, risks and trends and prepare and present comprehensive reports, ministerial briefs and cabinet and agency submissions on complex issues.
- Pro-actively build and maintain effective working relationships and facilitate the flow of information across the department and with key external stakeholders.
- Maintain an understanding of Commonwealth and State legislative and policy reform directions to influence policy development.
- Represent the department on committees and community-based forums concerned with achieving government and departmental objectives.
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