Physiologist

Summary

This position is located in the Research Service at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System (GLAVAHS). The position will support GLAVAHS researchers who have projects funded through the Research Service. The GLAVAHS Research Service's portfolio has multiple projects which evaluate the effects of physical activity interventions on cognition, health, physical function, and quality of life of Veterans.

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Overview

• Accepting applications

• Open & closing dates

06/28/2024 to 07/05/2024

• Salary

$69,729 - $90,647 per year

• Pay scale & grade

GS 9

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Location

1 vacancy in the following location:

• Los Angeles, CA 1 vacancy

• Remote job

No

• Telework eligible

No

• Travel Required

Not required

• Relocation expenses reimbursed

No

• Appointment type

Term

• 1 year 1 day

• Work schedule

Full-time

• Service

Competitive

• Promotion potential

9

• Job family (Series)

0413 Physiology

• Supervisory status

No

• Security clearance

Other

• Drug test

No

• Position sensitivity and risk

Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

• Trust determination process

Suitability/Fitness

• Announcement number

CARZ-12461747-24-AL

• Control number

797687500

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This job is open to

• The public

U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.

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Duties

• THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*

NOTE: This is a TERM appointment (not-to-exceed 1 year 1 day). Term appointments are non-status, nonpermanent appointments of limited duration (more than 1 year but not more than 4). Term employees are eligible to earn leave and generally have the same benefits as permanent employees including health and life insurance, withingrade increases and Federal Employees Retirement System and Thrift Savings Plan coverage. Term appointments may be extended without further competition (up to the 4-year maximum). The appointment to a Term position does not confer eligibility for promotion or reassignment to other positions or the ability to be noncompetitively converted to permanent employment.

This position will serve as a Physiologist/Research Assistant. The position will have knowledge of the instruments and techniques of mechanistic research and experience in the conduct of human subjects' research. The position may be assigned to multiple research projects as a Physiologist/Research Assistant.

Major Duties:

• Works with Veterans with physical disabilities, injuries, or diseases by using a wide range of physical fitness techniques and procedures.

• Develops progressive physical fitness plans of care by designing and modifying treatment programs, developing goals, and using a multifaceted approach determined by the Veteran's physical and mental conditions that draws upon the use of both standard and nonstandard treatment procedures.

• Set-ups, calibrates, and utilizes instrumented fitness and laboratory equipment as needed for patient evaluations and research projects; periodically calibrate as indicated by the manufacturer and by quality assurance recommendations.

• Analyzes energy expenditure data and cardiovascular function captured by accelerometry systems and doppler systems, including heart rate variability and vascular stiffness and reactivity.

• Administers physical functional performance measures for research activities, conducts exercise testing and training sessions, functional assessments, and questionnaires, reports findings to Principal Investigator.

• Coordinates age-specific patient and research data collection; reduce data to graphical and other formats that are appropriate for the clinical or research question being addressed by the evaluation.

• Ensures that the laboratory's technical infrastructure (both hardware and software) remains state-of-the-art by reporting new research and commercial technology and suggests the appropriate purchase of commercial products.

• Identifies new areas of application for functional analyses and assist with the development of associated new software and protocols for the Laboratory.

• Coordinates all aspects of data collection in order to efficiently and accurately complete the test to minimize time and discomfort for the patient.

• Performs follow-up evaluations to monitor patient progress and outcomes for quality assurance. Assists in the evaluation of procedures as to accuracy, precision, applicability, and test-to-test reliability.

• Assists in developing policies, procedures and/or methods for clinical and laboratory experimentation and develop protocol manuals and data collection instruments.

• Participates in field visits and responds to requests and questions from individuals, institutions, government agencies, and funding agencies.

• Assists with the training of staff in equipment calibration, data collection, data processing, and report preparation.

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: M-F (8am

• 4:30pm)

Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job

• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959

• You may be required to serve a probationary period

• Transcripts must be submitted with your application

• Subject to background/security investigation

• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT: Possess a Bachelor's (or higher level) degree in one of the basic animal sciences or physiology; or a related discipline or field of science that included at least 24 semester hours in the basic animal sciences, of which 10 semester hours were in animal physiology. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position.

In addition to meeting the Basic Education Requirements above, you must also meet the Minimum Qualification Requirements listed below.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Possess at least one year of specialized experience that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position, and that is typically in or related to the work of this position. To be creditable, this experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-7 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is working in research with patients with physical disabilities, injuries, or diseases by using a wide range of physical fitness techniques and procedures; participating in data collection and complex data queries for both internal and external research projects; understanding of the instruments and techniques of mechanistic research and experience in the conduct of human subjects' research. OR

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE: Possess two (2) years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree in the courses described above which provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one (1) year of full-time study. If that number cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours will be considered an academic year of graduate study. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED) OR

COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION: Possess equivalent combinations of education and specialized experience as described above to meet the requirements at the GS-9. (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED)

You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position:

• Clinical Data Collection/Documentation

• Human Factors

IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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.

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; religious; 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.

Physical Requirements: The work involves a wide range of physical demands from sedentary work in a standard office setting to moderate to heavy physical demands which include the ability to lead exercise classes, move exercise equipment, and transfer patients in an emergency setting.

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/.

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: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | International Affairs Office (ed.gov).

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities (i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities), and/or disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. For more information on how to apply using this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator within the office, contact the facility Human Resources Department at (202) 020-2020.

The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more before any Veterans preference points) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

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• Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new window

Learn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

Your responses to the assessment questionnaire will be reviewed along with the information provided in your resume and supporting documentation to determine if you are qualified for the position. If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, your rating may be lowered and/or you may lose consideration for this position. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

Candidates who apply under All U.S. Citizens announcements will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. Qualified candidates will be assigned to a quality category. The categories are defined as follows:

• Best qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position;

• Highly qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the requirements of the job;

• Well qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in some, but not all, of the requirements of the job; and

• Qualified - applicants possessing experience and/or education that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors.

Application of Veterans' Preference: Category rating and selection procedures place those with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Preference eligible applicants that meet the eligibility and qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category (except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher).

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.