This Supervisory Health Science Specialist is in the Pathology and Laboratory Service at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System located at the West Haven, CT campus location. This position is full-time at 40 hours per week.
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/16/2025. 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-09. 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. You may qualify based on your experience, education, and certification 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. AND, Education: You must be a graduate from a pathologists assistant education program accredited by the American Association of Pathology Assistants (AAPA) or its predecessors, at a college, university or education institution that is accredited by an accrediting body or organization recognized by the Secretary, US Department of Education. AND, Certification: In addition, the incumbent must possess successful completion of the Physician Assistant PA certification examination given by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP), and must maintain status as a certified pathologist assistant, including completion of all requirements for continuing medical education (CME) and recertification. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communications Manages and Organizes Information Project Management Technical Practices 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 work requires moderate standing, stooping, pushing, pulling, reaching, walking, bending, lifting light/moderate objects (<20 lbs.) and to have good manual dexterity and visual acuity. 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/.
The duties of this GS-11 Supervisory Health Science Specialist include, but are not limited to: Serve as the VACT Anatomic Pathology (AP) Supervisor, Pathologists' Assistant, and Histopathology Supervisor. Service VACT Medical Centers; West Haven and Newington and their supporting Out-Patient Clinics. Represent VACT with regard to all VISN 1 Anatomic Pathology activities and National Anatomic Pathology activities, including membership on the VISN 1 NCL Anatomic Pathology Functional group and an opportunity to chair the NCL AP Functional group. Supervise specialty sections including: Surgical Pathology, Grossing, Autopsy, Histology, and Anatomic Pathology, Laboratory Information Management, and Morgue areas for all VACT labs and its outlying clinics. Supervise all operations including: overseeing reference testing, specialized procedures, quality control report and analysis, strategic planning and capital equipment acquisition and contracting, accurate and timely accessioning of all specimens into anatomic pathology, advanced testing and specimen retrieval from non-VACT institutions. Serve as Training Program Director for the Pathologists' Assistant programs from an affiliated local academic institution. Develop policies and procedures for surgical pathology, grossing, laboratory histology, autopsy, frozen section, fine needle aspiration biopsies (FNA), autopsy suite management, and patient case management. Update and supplement the General Anatomic Pathology Manual, Cytopathology Manual, Histology Manual, and General Autopsy Manual with procedural changes. Work closely with the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service (PLMS) Service Chief, attending physicians, clinical attending physicians, VISN1 Anatomic Pathology staff: Lead Histotechnologist, cytotechnologists, histotechnologists/histotechnicians, and laboratory information manager. Orient and instruct supervisors, residents, and pathologists' assistant students and other medical students. Oversee all Quality Assurance and Quality Control for the Anatomic Pathology Department in order to assure CAP, TJC, and VHA accreditation. Preferred Experience: 3-5 yrs Pathologists' Assistant experience 1-3 yrs Supervisory Experience Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: May be authorized at supervisor discretion. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Telework: Not available. Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Health Science Specialist/PD034580 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Recruitment/Relocation incentive have been authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized. Financial Disclosure: Not required. Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child. Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Notifications: Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. Interchange Agreements with Other Merit System: Employees who occupy medical or medical-related positions and were appointed under 38 U.S.C. 4701(1) or (3) [formerly 38 U.S.C. 4104 (1) and (3)] must be serving in a full-time position without time limit and have served continuously for at least one year in this other merit system to be eligible to convert to the Title 5 System. Some exceptions to this rule may apply if you have previously acquired tenure under a Title 5 appointment.