Therapeutic Medical Physicist (Advanced Level)

Clarification from the agency

Open to Current permanent employees of the Veterans Administration including permanent Veterans Benefits Administration, National Cemeteries, Veterans Canteen Service employees, current permanent full-time Hybrid Title 38, permanent full-time Title 38 employees. This does not include temporary, term or temporary intermittent. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position.

The Therapeutic Medical Physicist (Advanced Level) work in Radiation Oncology and have responsibilities that include: protection of the patient and others from potentially harmful or excessive radiation. Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Manages the development and implementation of advanced techniques and special initiatives in radiotherapy, collaborates with radiation oncologists in the development of new clinical protocols, and directs special projects involving clinical applications, clinical research, or quality assurance.
• Serves as a subject matter expert on certain aspect/s of therapeutic medical physics in which the incumbent has achieved national recognition through research and peer-reviewed publications.
• Demonstrates expertise in medical physics to provide consultative services to the National Radiation Oncology Program (NROP), the National Health Physics Program (NHPP), other VHA program offices and other federal agencies if requested.
• Performs the depth and breadth of clinical practice of therapeutic medical physics.
• Plans, delivers, verifies, and monitors quality assurance of radiotherapy at all levels of complexity.
• Recommend optimal modality and treatment technique for the patient; evaluating the quality, safety, and accuracy of radiation treatments planned and delivered to patients, thus ensuring that radiation dose is carried out correctly and completely; and safely operating all radiation planning and delivery devices.
• Implements radiation therapy of outstanding technical difficulty and responsibility, as exemplified by their role in providing knowledge-based solutions to resolving issues where no rule-based solutions exist.
• Plans and directs a specialized program encompassing all physics and clinical aspects of external beam and brachytherapy treatment procedures from treatment simulation to treatment planning to the actual treatment delivery.
• Provides technical oversight for the work of developmental TMPs, medical dosimetrists and radiation therapists.
• Oversees radiation therapy treatment planning; designs and approves treatment plans; monitors the accuracy of treatment data recorded in the patient's medical records.
• Provides consultation to the radiation oncologist regarding difficult treatment cases; performs patient specific treatment validation measurements; and develops medical physics policies and procedures for the delivery and quality assessment of advanced treatment modalities.
• Develops, operates and fully documents the medical physics quality assurance program and ensures regulatory compliance within the Radiation Safety Officer's radiation safety program.
• Safely utilizes and properly operates all radiation oncology equipment and is therefore qualified and responsible for educating radiation oncology team members including radiation oncologists, radiation therapists and dosimetrists in safety issues that relate to radiotherapy planning and delivery.
• Knowledgeable user and subject matter expert in the use of the Varian Eclipse treatment planning system and Cyberknife treatment planning system, Varian Truebeam and Cyberknife delivery systems, and multiple QA equipment and software.
• Be an expert in the following special procedures: Electrons, 3D treatment, IMRT, SBRT, SRS, VMAT, Cyberknife.

Work Schedule: Full-Time Monday-Friday 7:30am-4:00pm
Compressed/Flexible: Not authorized
Telework: Not authorized
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement# F08560
Relocation Incentive: Notauthorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized
Financial Disclosure: Not required

NOTIFICATIONS:

• This position is in the Excepted Service.
• This position is not in a Bargaining unit.
• This position is covered by a special salary rate.
• Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.
• Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held. No award SF50s will be accepted.
• Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment.

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.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• 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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation/examination.
• May be subject to satisfactory completion of our credentialing process.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 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 trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

Citizenship: Citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g, this part.)

Education: 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 TMP positions in the VHA must be board certified in the field of therapeutic 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.
(1) Approved Certifying Bodies (a) The American Board of Radiology (ABR) in any of the following field titles: 1. Therapeutic Medical Physics 2. Therapeutic Radiologic or Therapeutic Radiological Physics 3. Radiologic Physics or Radiological Physics (b) The American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP) in the subfield of Radiation Oncology Physics. (c) The Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine (CCPM) in the subfield of Radiation Oncology Physics.

English Language Proficiency: TMPs must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d).

Grandfathering Provision: All persons employed in VHA as a TMP on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualifications requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following apply.
(1) Such employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journeyman) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
(2) TMPs who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
(3) Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or certification that meet all the basic requirements of the qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.
(4) TMPs who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry as a TMP.

GS-14 Experience: In addition to the basic requirements, completion of a minimum of 1 year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the next lower grade (GS 13). Experience includes but not limited to; Knowledge regarding the safe and efficient use of all radiotherapy devices for external beam radiotherapy; Ability to evaluate and ensure correct and safe operation of radiotherapy equipment through complex problem diagnosis and scheduled quality assurance; Knowledge of the scientific, clinical, and technical applications of high dose rate and low dose rate brachytherapy treatment simulation, planning, dosimetry, and treatment methods; Expertise in the professional, scientific, and technical aspects of shielding methods for external beam radiation delivery systems, radiation survey methods, developing procedures, setting action levels, delivering radiation safety training, developing and documenting competencies, and reporting. This includes an in-depth knowledge of regulatory requirements and guidelines for radiation shielding and personnel protection; Ability to exercise independent professional judgment in the performance and evaluation of calibration, acceptance testing, and clinical commissioning procedures for all types of external beam photon and electron beam delivery systems; Skilled in the evaluation of acceptance testing and commissioning results of CT simulators; technical skills in 3-D treatment planning, intensity modulated radiation therapy treatment planning, and stereotactic body radiation therapy planning. This includes specialized knowledge of clinical process steps and resource requirements for planning and delivery of radiation oncology treatments; Ability to process information from multi-modality imaging datasets for treatment planning, treatment verification, and radiotherapy response assessment.

Assignments: Employees at this level who are not supervisors are able to carry out assigned tasks independently in all areas of radiation therapy requiring TMP competencies which substantially exceed the full performance level and require advanced knowledge in all areas of radiation therapy. Regardless of the nature of the specific assignment, the work must be of sufficient scope and complexity to meet the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform at this grade level.

In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs:

1. Advanced expertise and experience in the safe and efficient use of all radiotherapy devices for external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy.
2. Highly developed expertise with commissioning linear accelerators and treatment planning systems for complex clinical use, to include project management, performance testing, data acquisition, beam modeling, and validation testing.
3. Advanced knowledge (treatment simulation, planning, dosimetry, and treatment methods) of the scientific, clinical, and technical applications of one or more specialized procedures including, but not limited to, high dose rate brachytherapy, low dose rate brachytherapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy, stereotactic radiation therapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, total body irradiation, advanced image-guided therapy, and adaptive therapy.
4. Advanced expertise in acceptance testing, clinical commissioning, and (when applicable) calibration procedures for a variety of ancillary radiation oncology delivery, imaging, dosimetry, metrology, and computational systems.

Preferred Experience: Knowledgeable user and subject matter expert in the use of the Varian Eclipse treatment planning system and Cyberknife treatment planning system, Varian Truebeam and Cyberknife delivery systems, and multiple QA equipment and software. Expert in the following special procedures: Electrons, 3D treatment, IMRT, SBRT, SRS, VMAT, Cyberknife.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

How you will be evaluated

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

Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility.
2. All other VA employees.

Note: Veterans' Preference is not applicable to VA employees or employees of other Federal agencies.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for 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; 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.

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.

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.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Professional Certification
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc.

• Cover Letter
• Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Other (1)
• Professional Certification
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

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