The Long Beach VA Medical Center is recruiting for one (1) Health Physicist (Radiation Safety) position located in the Chief of Staff's office. The incumbent must be able to perform work of considerable breadth and diversity by applying various scientific specialties to a healthcare setting to include medical physics, health physics, chemistry, computer science, industrial hygiene, emergency management, direct patient care, regulatory compliance, and original research.

Duties

The incumbent must be able to perform work of considerable breadth and diversity by applying various scientific specialties to a healthcare setting to include medical physics, health physics, chemistry, computer science, industrial hygiene, emergency management, direct patient care, regulatory compliance, and original research. The work assignments are especially varied and complex because the healthcare needs of the patients often compete with the scientific, safety, and research activities. The incumbent must use their initiative, resourcefulness, and past personal experiences to find new ways to ensure that the healthcare and scientific objectives are both met. Duties include but are not limited to; Resolves complex technical radiation safety issues independently or in concert with independent consultants. Consults with a broad and diverse group of stakeholders that includes contractors, equipment installers, medical staff, physicians, scientists, equipment vendors and operations personnel to resolve very complex and unprecedented issues arising from research protocols, new equipment capabilities, applications, environmental issues or machine installations. The various consultations, evaluations, and recommendations are generally accepted by others as technically authoritative. The incumbent advises clinicians and researchers on unusual, complex and critical problems associated with the safety and use of highly sophisticated x-ray equipment and may recommend changes to clinical and/or experimental procedures based on their expertise. The employee is a member of the emergency response team and responds promptly to emergencies (including during off-duty hours). The employee trains the medical center staff and ensures that the facility is prepared to mitigate and respond to events involving radioactive materials or radiation. The incumbent provides advice and instruction to medical center personnel and research workers on radiation safety issues such as, administration of radioisotopes to patients, radioactive materials use, and the disposal of radioactivity. In the case of research uses, the employee reviews laboratory methods and the objectives of the research to ensure that the study is scientifically appropriate and the radiation risks to personnel are minimized. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: Ad-Hoc may be granted at supervisor discretion. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Health Physicist (Radiation Safety)/PD10907O

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/28/2024. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Individual Occupational Requirements/Basic Qualification Requirements - you must meet one of the following: A) Successfully completed of a full 4-year course of study at an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's degree or higher in natural science or engineering that included at least 30 semester hours in health physics, engineering, radiological science, chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and/or calculus. NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR B) A combination of education and experience -- This must include courses as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or other education; or certification as a health physicist by the American Board of Health Physics (copy of certification must be submitted with your application materials), plus appropriate experience and other education that provided an understanding of sciences applicable to health physics comparable to that described in paragraph A. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: performing environmental physical science, environmental engineering, or health physics duties; applying standard practices of related disciples as they relate to health physics or engineering functions; conducting reviews and ensures laboratory radiochemistry procedures are compliant with regulations and license requirements; developing and implementing laboratory training programs and conduct classes; performing scientific and technical expert in the areas of chemical, biological, radiological effects on response operations; collaborating projects and coordinating work with others; attending meetings and conferences and presenting technical papers; providing technical health physics expertise in all areas; supervising the licensing actions; reviewing and revising the existing policy guidance directives to ensure compliance applicable to federal radiation related regulations; developing fundamental approaches and applying broad health physicist expertise to identify adverse health impacts; providing professional and expert technical direction and assessment in all areas of health physics. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree (Transcripts required). OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education beyond graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level may be combined with experience.NOTE: Transcripts must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Decision MakingHealth PhysicsQuality Management 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; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The incumbent is required to perform considerable walking, standing, bending, and lifting, in all areas of the Medical Center. In addition, periods of extensive driving in heavy traffic are required to visit outlying clinics and CBOCs. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Long Beach VA Medical Center 5901 East Seventh Street Long Beach, CA 90822 US
• Name: Jeremy Trader
• Phone: 816-764-4280
• Email: [email protected]