As a Veterinary Medical Officer within the Ready Response Corps of Veterinary Services, Field Operations, you will perform emergency management response work including deploying, coordinating, and managing response efforts to mitigate the spread of animal diseases. Your ingenuity, initiative, and judgment will help us succeed in preventing, controlling, and eradicating diseases of significant animal health and economic importance.

Duties

The duties described are for the full-performance level. At developmental grade levels, assignments will be of more limited scope, performed with less independence and limited complexity. The duties may include, but are not limited to: Deploying to animal disease outbreaks to assist with emergency response, containment, and mitigation risk reduction activities through the Ready Response Corps Coordinating emergency response depopulation activities with Incident Management Teams and Veterinary Services NPIC Director. Planning, coordinating, adapting, and modifying medical and program procedures to deal with animals, aquatic species, birds, and poultry infected with or exposed to contagious diseases. Developing and recommending new procedures and practices for properly releasing, retaining, or quarantining problem animals. Inspecting and examining animals, aquatic species, birds, and poultry for evidence of disease conditions and for the probable causes and effects. Diagnosing the clinical symptoms of suspect herds and flocks to identify the specific disease, advising producer to seek treatment, and recommending preventive care that can be taken. Certifying the health of livestock, poultry, aquatic species, and their byproducts to be exported to other countries. Developing, preparing, and/or finalizing a variety of published materials to educate groups about the impacts of animal disease on livestock producers and the United States food supply.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Individuals who were born male after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
• Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify at https://www.e-verify.gov/
• Conferred Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Degree with application. See "Education" section below for more details.
• Work involves strenuous physical demands to handle and restrain livestock, which includes defending against physical attack by a variety of confused or distressed animals.
• There is also crouching during the examination of livestock, manual restraint of livestock, and prolonged kneeling in areas of high animal concentration for collection of blood samples.
• Your work may also involve climbing during inspection of livestock market facilities, vehicles, or abattoirs, and lifting during the transport and set up of portable cattle chutes.
• Medical clearances, respirator fit testing and medical surveillance to test for occupational exposure to biological, chemical, and/or radiological hazardous agents, occupational diseases, and occupational risk may be required.
• There is exposure to discomforts and disease conditions and agents, some of which are highly contagious, infectious, noxious, and communicable to humans. Special clothing, equipment, and other safeguards are required.
• Work in confinement units or livestock markets may be very dusty and have extremely slippery surfaces, temperatures ranging from very cold to very hot, with humidity, high levels of ammonia from feces, and excessively high-pitched noises.
• Travel requirements in support of emergency response may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to travel to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.
• All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency response operations, which may require irregular work hours and work at locations other than the official duty station.
• Employees may be asked or assigned to participate in rotating temporary duty assignments in foreign countries to support port services or emergency programs which requires obtaining an Official Government Passport.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement, including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. All applicants must meet the Basic Requirement outlined in the Education section below. FOR THE GS-11 GRADE LEVEL: Applicants who meet the basic requirements as outlined in the "Education" section qualify for this grade level. FOR THE GS-12 LEVEL: Applicants must have one year of professional veterinary experience obtained after receipt of a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. OR Successful completion of a Master's degree in an area of specialization including, but not limited to: animal science, avian medicine, food safety, infectious diseases, veterinary clinical sciences, pathobiology, biomedical sciences, veterinary anatomy, veterinary preventive medicine, comparative biological sciences, epidemiology, veterinary parasitology, molecular veterinary biosciences, public health, microbiology, pathology, immunology, laboratory animal medicine, toxicology, wildlife, zoological animal medicine, or other sciences related to the work of a veterinary medical officer position. OR RESIDENCY/POST GRADUATE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR THE GS-12 GRADE LEVEL: Successful completion of two years of an internship, residency program, or fellowship training program in a discipline related to the position. Applicants should provide a certificate or letter documenting the completion of this program. TRANSCRIPTS are required. This position requires specific coursework or a degree in a specific field to be basically qualified. this education must have been successfully completed and obtained from an accredited school, college or university. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Education

BASIC REQUIREMENT: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) or equivalent degree, i.e., Veterinary Medical Doctor (VMD), obtained at a school or college of veterinary medicine accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education (AVMA). The AVMA website has a listing of all AVMA-accredited veterinary medical schools. AVMA website: https://www.avma.org

OR Graduates of foreign veterinary medical schools that are not accredited by the AVMA Council on Education must meet one of the following requirements:
a) Proof of certification of their final transcript by the Educational Commission for Foreign Veterinary Graduates (ECFVG);
b) Possession of a permanent, full, and unrestricted license to practice veterinary medicine in a State, District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory of the United States that includes successful completion of the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE) or its predecessors, the National Board Examination (NBE) and the Clinical Competency Test (CCT); OR
c) Proof that the education obtained in a foreign veterinary medical program is equivalent to that gained in a veterinary medical program that is accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education. An AVMA-accredited veterinary medical school or college must have accepted the final transcript from the foreign veterinary medical school at full value for placement into an advanced degree, postgraduate educational program, or training program (e.g., residency or graduate program).

In addition, graduates of foreign veterinary medical programs must also provide proof of proficiency in the English language by successfully completing one of the nationally and internationally recognized examinations that incorporate assessments of reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Examples of examinations that assess mastery of the English language are shown below:

a) Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) - Minimum scores for the TOEFL are 560 for the paper-based version; 220 for the computer-based version; or overall score of 83 for the internet-based version (including 26 or higher in speaking, 26 or higher in listening, and 17 or higher in writing). For the computer-based and paper-based test versions, applicants must also complete the Test of Spoken English (TSE) and the Test of Written English (TWE). Minimum required scores are 55 for the TSE and 5.5 for the TWE.

b) Academic tests (listening, writing, and speaking) offered by the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Applicants must achieve a minimum overall band score of 7.0, with at least 7.0 in speaking, 6.5 in listening, and 6.0 in writing; OR

c) Canadian Academic English Language Assessment (CAEL). Applicants must achieve a minimum overall band score of 70, with at least 60 in speaking, 60 in listening, and 50 in writing.

Graduates of foreign veterinary medical programs must submit test results with their application. Results of more than one test or testing session cannot be combined to meet the standard.

Waiver Provision: English language proficiency assessments may be waived for qualified job applicants whose native language is English (i.e., the official or common language of an individuals country of birth is English) who submit a diploma or other official documentation as proof of graduation from a high (secondary) school where the entire curriculum and educational programs were taught in the English language for the entire 3 or 4 years of full-time attendance.

Contacts

• Address Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service USDA APHIS MRPBS 250 Marquette Avenue, Suite 410 Minneapolis, MN 55401 US
• Name: MRP Human Resources
• Phone: 612-336-3227
• Email: [email protected]