Supervisory Diagnostic Medical Physicist

Summary

OUR MISSION: To fulfill President Lincoln's promise "To care for those who have served in our nation's military and for their families - caregivers - and survivors" - by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's Veterans. How would you like to become a part of a team providing compassionate whole health care to Veterans? The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series. For more information - refer to Required Documents below.

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

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
• Applicants for a Physicist position within the VHA must possess a 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 Physicist positions in the VHA must be board certified in the field of 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
• The Physicist must maintain current board certification
• Approved Certifying Bodies and DMP subspecialty certifications are as follow: (a) The American Board of Radiology (ABR) certifications include: i
• Diagnostic Medical Physics or Diagnostic Radiologic Physics ii
• Nuclear Medical Physics or Medical Nuclear Physics iii
• Radiologic Physics (b) The American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP) certifications include: i
• Diagnostic Imaging Physics ii
• Nuclear Medicine Physics iii
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging Physics (c) The Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine (CCPM) certifications include: i
• Diagnostic Radiological Physics ii
• Nuclear Medicine Physics iii
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (d) The American Board of Science in Nuclear Medicine certifications include: i
• Nuclear Medicine Physics and Instrumentation ii
• Molecular Imaging 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)
• Specialized Experience GS-14: In addition to the GS-13 requirements - you must have 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level and must demonstrate the following KSAs: 1
• Knowledge of instructional methods
• 2
• Skill using written and verbal communication to explain complex technical issues
• 3
• Ability to assess the qualifications and abilities of current and prospective employees to include staff performance evaluations and professional development
• 4
• Ability to collaborate with the members of other disciplines and supervisors and to represent the profession both in and outside of organization
• This includes knowledge of the roles - contributions - and interrelationships with other health care specialties and supporting divisions
• 5
• Ability to manage and supervises employees and the ability to perform administrative duties to include - but not limited to: coordinating staffing - workload - and schedules
• setting priorities and delegating tasks and responsibilities
• reviewing qualifications and abilities of current and prospective employees
• interviewing and selecting candidates
• providing training and departmental orientation overseeing technical operations
• granting promotions
• and reviewing competencies and conducting performance appraisals.
• Certification and Transcript Reminder - Due to the positive education requirement unofficial conferred transcripts or an appropriate course listing must be submitted with your application
• Applications will not be considered without appropriate conferred transcripts
• The full performance level of this vacancy is 14
• The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of 13 to 14
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• Physical Requirements: See VA DIRECTIVE 5019

Duties

• Duties include - but not limited to the following: This position is a Diagnostic Medical Physicist (DMP) located within the Corporal Michael J
• Crescenz VA Medical Center (CMCVAMC) - a Level 1B Complexity VHA Healthcare System in Philadelphia - Pennsylvania - serving more than 62 -000 unique patients and providing more than 60 -000 radiological procedures annually across four sites of care in Pennsylvania and New Jersey - to include: Burlington County - NJCBOC - the Victor J
• Saracini VA Outpatient Clinic in Horsham - Pennsylvania - and the CMCVAMC's Community Living Center (CLC)
• The DMP supports the clinical operations - research programs - and teaching activities that deal with ionizing radiation and radioactive material
• The CMCVAMC is part of VISN 4 and serves as an acute referral center for VA healthcare facilities in eastern Pennsylvania - Delaware - and Southern New Jersey
• The Health Physicist serves as the Radiation Safety Officer overseeing a comprehensive program in support of individuals in the departments of Diagnostic Radiology - Nuclear Medicine - Radiation Oncology - and various Medical and Surgical specialties using ionizing radiation in a clinical/academic/research setting under a single Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) broad scope license permit
• Instructs as needed all personnel using sources of radioactive material - but not less than once annually - concerning the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA)program - safety procedures - disposal policy and procedures and compliance with regulations and local policy and procedures
• Inspects all facilities where radionuclides are used and stored as needed but not less than once each year for compliance with Federal regulations and local policy and procedures
• Manages the timely distribution and collection of personnel monitors and maintains records of personnel exposure including accounting for all missing or lost badges
• Responsible for budgetary requirements of the radiation safety program - including writing contracts with oversight of several contracts as the contracting officer representative (COR)
• Performs dosimetry calculations for and consults with patients receiving unsealed radiopharmaceuticals
• Establishes the proper technique associated with the physical detection and quantitative measurement of radiation from internal and external contamination and exposure of radiation with the measurement of various internal dosimetry values for the various possible conditions
• Provides radiation educational services in clinical care and research areas at both the main hospital as well as associated CBOCs
• Provides consultative support to the hospital's Institutional Review Board (IRB) - Institutional Biosafety Committee - and Safety Committee
• Assists PENTAD and Service Chiefs in establishing overall service goal and policies related to radiation safety and the uses of radiation sources
• Manages the storage - handling - transportation - transfer - and disposal of all radioactive materials
• Packaging and preparing the shipment of manifests - burial site licensing applications - and arrangements for off-site shipping - allotment and oversight of radioactive qualities disposed of in the sanitary sewage - air exhaust system - and by incineration
• Supervisory controls: The incumbent is responsible for planning - designing - and carrying out programs - projects - studies in terms of established requirements of specifications for meeting the objectives of the Radiation Safety Program
• Coordination of the employee's work and establishment of priorities in relation to the total mission and management direction of the safety program is performed independently
• Work results submitted by the incumbent are considered technically authoritative and normally accepted without significant change
• New projects and programs are evaluated with recommendations for appropriateness to the facility mission - utilization - and radiological implications
• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 8:00am - 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Not available
• Telework: Not available
• Virtual: This is not a virtual position.