Health Science Specialist

The Health Science Specialist serves as the management of the Multi-Drug-Resistant Organism (MDRO) Prevention Coordinator and Infection Preventionist, providing expert guidance and leadership in infection prevention and control activities. This role is responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating strategies to prevent multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) transmission, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, and promoting a safe environment for patients and staff.

Duties include but not limited to:

• Reviewing, analyzing, and applying pertinent information from current scientific literature and publications, integrating relevant public health issues into practice; and identifying populations at high risk for infection, using the principles of human growth and development to assess patients' requirements relative to age-specific needs.
• applies epidemiological principles and statistical methods, including risk stratification, to identify target populations, analyze trends and risk factors, and design and evaluate prevention and control strategies, including conducting surveillance and investigations by using epidemiological principles and using appropriate statistical techniques to describe the data, calculate rates, and critically evaluate significance of findings.
• Uses a systematic approach to surveillance to monitor the effectiveness of prevention and control strategies that are consistent with the organization's goals and objectives, including: participating in the development of the organization's surveillance plan based on the population(s) served, services provided, and previous surveillance data, if available, develop and implement surveillance guidelines to track and predict the occurrence of nosocomial infections.
• Meets with Medical Center committees and teams to discuss pertinent laboratory findings, their clinical significance, necessary Infection Prevention and control measures, and concerns from teams.
• Serves as an educational resource for infection prevention, control and health care epidemiology, providing expert knowledge and guidance, including reviews and recommends products for use in cleaning and disinfection of equipment and environmental surfaces.
• Serving as a liaison to public health officials regarding reportable communicable diseases and other epidemiologically significant findings; and actively and continuously collaborating with the Infection Prevention and Control team in all program activities.
• Provides leadership in identifying and addressing ethical issues that impact clients and staff, including initiating and participating in ethics consultations, including maintaining confidentiality, practicing in a nonjudgmental, nondiscriminatory manner, with sensitivity to diversity, coordinating problem solving with supporting Services outside the responsible area supporting the APIC, the epidemiology code of ethics, and the Hospital's policy on medical ethics.
• Collaborates with others in research activities to improve care, including applying relevant research findings to MDRO infection prevention and control practice.

Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Health Science Specialist/PD150240
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/27/2026.

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-12 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-11. 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 (IOR)
Basic Requirements-Education: Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree: major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position. This degree must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education(external link) at the time the degree was obtained.

In addition to meeting the IOR, You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

• Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-11 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: conducting surveillance, analyzing infection data, developing and implementing prevention strategies, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, educating staff, coordinating outbreak investigations, and collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to improve patient safety and quality of care. B. I do not possess the experience described above.

Preferred Experience: 3 years of the specialized experience and/or Certification Infection Control (CIC) preferred

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/.

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• To be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and questionnaire, this position requires an online assessment. The online assessment measures critical general competencies required to perform the job.
• Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is not required.
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.