The Therapeutic Medical Physicist (Advanced) performs the clinical practice of therapeutic medical physics in its entirety with considerable discretion and independent judgment at the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center, Johnson City, TN. The employee plans, delivers, verifies, and monitors quality assurance of radiotherapy at all levels of complexity.

Duties

Functions of this position include but are not limited to: Clinical Works with Radiation Oncologists, Dosimetrists, quality assurance equipment, radioactive material handling, Radiation Safety Program, clinical treatment support and clinical treatment planning at all levels of complexity, using appropriate discretion and independent judgement. Apply advanced expertise and experience in the safe and efficient use of all radiotherapy planning and delivery devices for external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy, including treatment simulation, treatment planning, and treatment delivery ensuring their safe operation. Determines radiation dose at different points within the volume treated, performs pertinent computations using isodose curves or computer information, dosimetry data, wedges, bolus, and other devices and aids necessary for the delivery of safe, accurate and precise radiation treatment. Applies advanced expertise and experience to process information from multimodality imaging datasets for treatment planning, treatment verification, and radiotherapy response assessment. Knowledge of various treatment planning techniques and complex dose computations for 3-D and 4-D treatments. Provides special physics consultation to the Radiation Oncologist regarding difficult treatment cases. Assists Dosimetrists in difficult treatment plans and complex calculations, recommending an optimal modality and treatment technique for the patient, as needed. Oversees, designs and approved radiation therapy treatment planning process. Designs and approves treatment plans. Performs patient-specific treatment validation measurements. Provide calibration and parameterization of each treatment beam, ensuring all required factors meet the treatment prescription as written by the physician. Reviews all radiation therapy patient treatment plans for quality, safety, accuracy of calculations, positioning, dosage, and appropriateness of the treatment, thus ensuring that radiation dose is carried out correctly and completely. Monitors the accuracy of treatment data recorded in the patient's medical records. Implements radiation therapy of outstanding technical difficulty and responsibility, providing knowledge-based solutions to resolving issues where no rule-based solutions exist. Provide advice and consultation, as well as principles, methods, applications, and state-of-the- art technology in Radiation Oncology to provide direction and guidance on critical and complex issues. Quality Assurance Plans, delivers, verifies, and monitors quality assurance of radiotherapy at all levels of complexity. Evaluates the quality, safety, and accuracy of radiation treatment plans and delivery to patients, thus ensuring that radiation dose is carried out correctly and completely. Develops, operates, and fully documents the medical physics quality assurance program and ensures regulatory compliance within the Radiation Safety Officer's radiation safety program and attends the Radiation Safety Committee meetings. Evaluates and ensures the correct and safe operation of radiotherapy equipment through maintenance, troubleshooting, diagnosis and a scheduled quality assurance program. Radiation Safety Perform scientific assessments related to radiation hazards within the service and make recommendations concerning corrective actions for identified weaknesses and/or deficiencies. Measure and analyze radiation levels to ensure the areas are safe for all employees to work. Analyze the environmental aspects of radiation and radioactivity by means of performing mathematical calculations and other complex and analytical procedures. Maintains a high level of knowledge of radiation safety for patients, visitors, and staff by attending seminars and reviewing current literature pertaining to the field of Radiation Oncology. Has expertise in the professional, scientific, and technical aspects of shielding methods for external beam radiation delivery systems, radiation survey methods, developing procedures, setting action levels, delivering radiation safety training, developing, and documenting competencies, and reporting. This includes an indepth knowledge of regulatory requirements and guidelines for radiation shielding and personnel protection. Safely utilizes and properly operates all radiation oncology equipment and is therefore qualified and responsible for educating radiation oncology team members including radiation oncologists, radiation therapists and dosimetrists in safety issues that relate to radiotherapy planning and delivery. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday 7:30 am to 4:00 pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 60402F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized to a highly qualified candidate Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Education: Master's degree or higher in a physics, science, or engineering discipline recognized by an accredited college or university with at least 30 semester hours in medical physics, health physics, radiological science, physics, engineering, chemistry, or biology; or an equivalent foreign degree and coursework substantiated by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services. Board Certification: Persons hired or reassigned to TMP positions in the VHA must be board certified in the field of therapeutic medical physics by an approved certifying body. The board certificate must be current and the applicant must abide by the certifying body's requirements for continuing education. Approved Certifying Bodies: (a) The American Board of Radiology (ABR) in any of the following field titles: 1. Therapeutic Medical Physics 2. Therapeutic Radiologic or Therapeutic Radiological Physics 3. Radiologic Physics or Radiological Physics (b) The American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP) in the subfield of Radiation Oncology Physics. (c) The Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine (CCPM) in the subfield of Radiation Oncology Physics. English Language Proficiency: Therapeutic Medical Physicists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d) and 7407(d). May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grade Determinations: GS-14 Therapeutic Medical Physicist (Advanced Level) Experience: In addition to the basic requirements, completion of a minimum of 1 year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the next lower grade (GS-13). Assignments: For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty) and range of variety, and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Employees at this level who are not supervisors are able to carry out assigned tasks independently in all areas of radiation therapy requiring Therapeutic Medical Physicist competencies which substantially exceed the full performance level and require advanced knowledge in all areas of radiation therapy. Regardless of the nature of the specific assignment, the work must be of sufficient scope and complexity to meet the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform at this grade level. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: Advanced expertise in the safe and efficient use of all radiotherapy devices for external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy. Highly developed expertise with commissioning linear accelerators and treatment planning systems for complex clinical use, to include project management, performance testing, data acquisition, beam modeling, and validation testing. Advanced knowledge (treatment simulation, planning, dosimetry, and treatment methods) of the scientific, clinical, and technical applications of one or more specialized procedures including, but not limited to, high dose rate brachytherapy, low dose rate brachytherapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy, stereotactic radiation therapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, total body irradiation, advanced image-guided therapy, and adaptive therapy. Advanced expertise in acceptance testing, clinical commissioning, and (when applicable) calibration procedures for a variety of ancillary radiation oncology delivery, imaging, dosimetry, metrology, and computational systems. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-14. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

Education

IMPORTANT: 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 James H Quillen VA Medical Center Corner of Lamont Street and Veterans Way Mountain Home, TN 37684 US
• Name: Salvatore Chillon
• Phone: 850-417-6215
• Email: [email protected]