Summary

This position is located in the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, National Disaster Medical System headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia

When activated with , you will be protected by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) when you are called to respond to an emergency.

Duties

This position is located with the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). NDMS supports state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) authorities following disasters and emergencies by supplementing health and medical systems and response capabilities. The HHS Office of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, in its role as Coordinator of Emergency Support Function 8 (ESF-8), Public Health and Medical Services, of the National Response Framework, employs the NDMS to provide patient care, patient movement, and definitive care, as well as veterinary services, and fatality management support when requested by authorities from states, localities, tribes and territories, or other federal departments. In a disease outbreak, they may provide mass prophylaxis. During a special event, they stand ready to serve in case of an emergency. But no matter what the specific mission is, NDMS teams provide expert patient care that protects individual health and promotes national health security.

Verify that the body of the deceased is the body to be autopsied and makes all arrangements to schedule the autopsy to include all necessary documentation, authorization and records.

Convey observations to Pathologist or Physician observed on body or organs; remove and maintain specimens for proper storage.

Assist Pathologist or Physician to perform autopsy (i.e.) incision, closing, tissue samples, organ samples.

Maintain proper assembly and routing of specimens for laboratory study; assist in collection of specimens to include DNA sampling.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• U.S. Citizenship required
• Males born after December 31, 1959 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service - http://www.sss.gov
• Suitable for federal employment
• Appointment will be subject to the applicant's successful completion of a background security investigation with favorable adjudication and completion of health screening. All information concerning qualifications is subject to investigation.
• Documentation that you present for purposes of completing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Form I-9 will be verified through the DHS "E-Verify" System.
• All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choice.
• All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the announcement.
• Two-year trial period may be required.
• Required to obtain and maintain a Government Travel Card.
• Background Investigation is required: Incumbent must undergo and clear a pre-employment fingerprint check and background investigation
• Immunization may be required.

Qualifications

During deployments, the work is primarily related to readiness for and deployment for response during the aftermath of a disaster or public health emergency, where work may be field-based, in a tent environment that is remote and austere, caring for sick, injured, dying, or deceased persons. This work requires above average health, physical, and mental conditioning with routine long periods of repetitive walking, bending, lifting, and carrying, such as carrying NDMS equipment or heavy patients on litters. Incumbent must be capable of working in a high-stress, high security, remote, austere, and uncharacterized environment, void of infrastructure and vital services, requiring specific physical demands, such as the ability to lift 50 pounds, and work characteristics that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. For these reasons, employees are required to complete a physical and health screening process, meet and maintain certain physical standards, as well as mental, behavioral, and cognitive competencies. Work may be performed in an office setting or indoor and outdoor field sites, sometimes in adverse weather. During emergency situations, the work environment may be situated in austere conditions and environment in terms of destroyed infrastructure (e.g., food and water, housing, electricity, communications), the presence of endemic diseases, and limited health and sanitation facilities requiring special safety precautions.

To qualify for this position, you must meet the following requirements:

One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-4 grade level in the Federal Service performing incisions, excisions, and other maneuvers that involve the use of surgical instruments (knives, scalpels, scissors, hand and powered saws, chisels, forceps, rongeurs, etc.) during autopsy procedures; preparing specimens in accordance with laboratory procedures for retention in the hospital and/or for shipment elsewhere and assisting in the coordination of multiple autopsy teams when multiple exams are occurring simultaneously in the mortuary area.

-OR-

A combination of education and experience as described.

Experience: Refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service Programs (i.e., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student and social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge and skills that can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience including volunteer experience.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Please read the Qualifications and Required Documents section of this announcement and follow all instructions carefully.

Additional selections may be made for similar positions across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) within the local commuting area(s) of the location identified in this announcement. By applying, you agree to have your application shared with any interested selecting official(s) at HHS. Traditional rating and ranking of applications does not apply to this vacancy. Qualified candidates will be referred for consideration in accordance with the Office of Personnel Management direct hire guidelines. Veteran's Preference does not apply to the direct hire recruitment procedures. Selections made under this announcement will be processed as new appointments to the civil service. Current civil service employees would, therefore, be given new appointments to the civil service.To preview the assessment questionnaire, click the following link:

To preview the assessment questionnaire, click the following link:

Required Documents

Submission of a resume alone IS NOT a complete application. You must provide a complete online Application Package which includes:

DOCUMENTING YOUR EXPERIENCE: IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

1. Online Application Assessment Questionnaire
2. Your Resume. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YYYY to MM/YYYY) For full-time, part-time, or intermittent work schedules include hours worked per week/deployment. You are encouraged to use the USAJobs online resume builder to ensure that all required information is in your resume. Your resume must clearly articulate how your skills and experiences align to the criteria defined in the qualifications section of this announcement and it must support your responses to the assessment questionnaire. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information. Failure to provide this information may result in a not meeting the qualifications rating.
3. Transcripts: If qualifying all or in part based on your education. A copy of your diploma will not suffice.

If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from .

Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.