Director, Maternal Child and Family Health

  • Full-time

Company Description

With a workforce of over 25,000 people, and opportunities in more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia is the sixth largest city in the United States and one of the largest employers in Southeastern Pennsylvania. As an employer, the City of Philadelphia operates through the guiding principles of service, integrity, respect, accountability, collaboration, diversity and inclusion. Through these principles, we strive to effectively deliver services, to resolve the challenges facing our city, and to make Philadelphia a place where all of our residents have the opportunity to reach their potential.  

Agency Description: 

The Division of Maternal, Child, and Family Health (MCFH) has the lead responsibility to improve the health of childbearing women and help every child in Philadelphia get a healthy start in life.  MCFH oversees the federally-funded Healthy Start initiative and Maternal & Child Health Services Block Grant (Title V) from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.  Other key programs involve promoting breast-feeding, providing home visiting for high-risk infants, coordinating perinatal care with social services in department health centers, conducting maternal and child fatality reviews, and surveillance for congenital infections and birth defects.  MCFH currently has a budget of approximately $6 million in local, state, and federal funds.  

However, the Division’s reach is greater than these funds and programs, because MCFH works collaboratively with many other governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations and health care providers with similar missions to improve the health of women and children. For example, to help the City’s most vulnerable infants, this Division is currently leading a group to establish a central intake hub for many existing home visiting programs.  In addition, the Department has developed a collaborative strategy to improve the health of children under the age of five, called A Running Start – Health, which guides initiatives to reduce sleep-related deaths, developmental delays, obesity, asthma, and injuries.  Among other initiatives coming from this strategy, the Division launched a Baby Book Club in the summer of 2018.  

Finally, the Division is strengthening its ability to measure and evaluate health initiatives with stronger data systems.  In particular, the Department of Public Health is conducting a local version of the CDC’s Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, which will provide invaluable data for improving prenatal and infant care. And the Department is establishing a ground-breaking population-level surveillance system for early child development, based on standardized screening results from electronic health records.

Job Description

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health is seeking a highly qualified candidate to serve as Director of the Division of Maternal, Child, and Family Health.  This leadership position is responsible for managing this division and, more generally, for establishing and implementing a strategy to improve the health of women, children, and families in Philadelphia.  

The Director for Maternal, Child, and Family Health will be responsible for:

  • Managing existing programs in the Division, including those listed in the section above;
  • Managing a home visiting program for high risk infants;
  • Leading efforts to establish a central intake hub for infant home visiting programs for the entire city;
  • Serving as the lead the for promotion of access to and utilization of contraceptive services and prenatal care in Philadelphia;
  • Managing the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review, a process to learn from and prevent future perinatal and infant fatalities;
  • Leading the implementation of A Running Start – Health, the agency’s strategic plan to improve the health of young children, which will involve collaboration with a wide range of other City agencies, such as the Department of Human Services and the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services, as well as nonprofit organizations focused on children;
  • Working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health on the Title V federal Maternal and Child Health program.

Qualifications

  • Completion of a Master’s degree(s) at an accredited college or university in Medicine, Public Health, or related field; At least six years of experience working on maternal, child, or family health issues.
  • Or any equivalent combination of education and experience determined to be acceptable by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health which has included completion of a Masters Degree program as an educational minimum and the experience described above.

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

We are looking for a leader with:

  • An understanding of the determinants of the health of women and children, and the ability to articulate a vision and strategy to promote their health
  • The ability to lead collaborative efforts with diverse partners to attain common goals
  • Experience and skills in managing programs to promote the health of populations
  • Strong written and oral communication skills
  • Experience taking the lead in writing federal or state grant applications
  • Skills in data analysis and in using quantitative data for decision-making
  • Ability to provide administrative and budgetary oversight to the division
  • Completion of a Master’s degree(s) at an accredited college or university in Medicine, Public Health, or related field; At least six years of experience working on maternal, child, or family health issues.
  • Or any equivalent combination of education and experience determined to be acceptable by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health which has included completion of a Masters Degree program as an educational minimum and the experience described above.

Additional Information

Successful candidate must be a City of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to faqpchr @phila.gov. For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx