Learn how to improve the business of HIV pharmaceutical management

There's a free webinar coming up titled, "Solutions for Managing HIV in the Payor Community." This is a webinar sponsored by BioScrip and all the speakers are BioScrip employees. So, I hope it will be an informative webinar and not simply an infomercial. This is NOT a certified CME/CE event, so I am not expecting that it will be fair balanced and free of any commercial bias. However, if you wish to learn more about HIV management, then you'll probably find it informative. Those working in the public health sector may find this interesting.

This webinar will address:

• Emerging trends in HIV patient demographics
• Patient Diagnosis, Treatment and Compliance Issues
• Government Initiatives and Guidelines
• HIV business environment: Pharma trends, Costs, and  Copay Issues
• Unique challenges for Specialty Pharmacy payors
• Solutions for HIV disease management

The presenters are:

• Elizabeth Engelhardt, RN, MSN, VP, Clinical Services and Product Development, BioScrip, Inc.
• Sara Deno, Pharm.D., AAHIVE (American Academy of HIV Medicine HIV Expert), Director of Pharmacy Services, BioScrip, Inc.
• Stephen Cichy, Executive Vice President, Managed Care Sales, Marketing and Product Development, BioScrip, Inc.

To learn more about this webinar, click here.

HIV Surveillance Coordinator (Senior Epidemiologist)

Here's another public health job post: HIV Surveillance Coordinator (Senior Epidemiologist in the state of Alabama)

The Senior Epidemiologist in a permanent full-time position with the Department of Public Health. Involves providing supervision and support to other epidemiologist in order to control the spread of selected communicable diseases, environmental and occupational illnesses, and perinatal, chronic, or communicable diseases.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s degree from an accredited four-year college or university with a concentration in Epidemiology, Biometry, or Biostatistics
• Four years of experience in epidemiology
OR
• Doctoral degree from an accredited four-year college or university with a concentration in Epidemiology, Biometry, or Biostatistics

Salary: $47,757.60 - $80,287.20 (that's quite a broad range, isn't it?)

Interested in more information? Contact me if you'd like to know more. The point I'd like to make about this job post is that certain positions may be linked to a very broad salary range.

Public Health Jobs in California

Here are a few examples of some current public health job openings in California (they are all related to HIV and AIDS and you must pass a civil service exam). Healthcare professionals who are looking for a transition into the non-clinical world of medicine may find some of these positions to be quite interesting. You can see that the salary range is also listed for each of these civil service jobs:

California Department of Public Health: Office of AIDS

Chief of the Surveillance, Research, and Evaluation Branch
Civil service classification: Public Health Medical Administrator I
Location: Sacramento, California
Salary range: $136,800 - $162,468 annually
This position is a California civil service position. In order to be eligible, a candidate must first apply for the Public Health Medical Administrator I civil service exam. Once the candidate has successfully completed the exam process, he/she can be considered for the Branch Chief position.

Medical Director
Civil service classification: Public Health Medical Officer III
Location: Sacramento, California
Salary range: $112,776 - $154,716 annually
This position is a California civil service position. In order to be eligible, a candidate must first apply for the Public Health Medical Officer III civil service exam. Once the candidate has successfully completed the exam process, he/she can be considered for the Medical Director position.

Chief of the HIV Prevention Research and Evaluation Section
Civil service classification: Research Scientist Supervisor II
Location: Sacramento, California
Salary range: $90,864 - $109,872 annually
This position is a California civil service position. In order to be eligible, a candidate must first apply for the Research Scientist Supervisor II civil service exam. Once the candidate has successfully completed the exam process, he/she can be considered for the Section Chief position.

Chief of the HIV Prevention Branch
Civil service classification: Public Health Medical Administrator I
Location: Sacramento, California
Salary range: $136,800 - $162,468 annually
This position is a California civil service position. In order to be eligible, a candidate must first apply for the Public Health Medical Administrator I civil service exam. Once the candidate has successfully completed the exam process, he/she can be considered for the Branch Chief position.

If you'd like more information about any of these job opportunities, please contact me.

VGX Pharmaceuticals: PENNVAX and CELLECTRA

Dr. J. Joseph Kim (no, not me) is president and CEO of VGX Pharmaceuticals. We're both MIT alumni, so we share one similar connection. There have been some exciting news from VGX recently.

Here's the headline from a recent press release: "VGX Pharmaceuticals Proprietary DNA Vaccines Delivered with Electroporation Achieve Immune Responses Superior to Recombinant Adenovirus Serotype 5 (Ad5) Vectors"

That sounds very exciting to me because there is such a need for better vaccines. Plus, we really need an HIV vaccine. This press release deals with some results on the PENNVAX HIV Vaccine Program. Researchers have been working on delivering the PENNVAX™ DNA vaccines using a novel electroporation device called CELLECTRA®.

Collaborators include the University of Pennsylvania, VGX, and Merck. These results are truly exciting and they reflect what can happen when you apply novel technologies in healthcare. Perhaps we will see a safe and effective HIV vaccine someday.