Histopathology Technician

Summary

About the Position: The position is located at the Joint Pathology Center (JPC) in Silver Spring, Maryland. Hours Monday to Friday 0730am to 4pm This is a Direct Hire Solicitation

Duties

• Perform special processing procedures such as myocardial biopsy processing, special and immunoperoxidase stains, bone and teeth decalcification, frozen section tissue preparation and brain/nerve tissue processing.
• Independently select stain based on an understanding of the underlying chemical reactions of the stains on certain tissues or cells and their value in the establishment of the correct results for the diagnostic, didactic, and research purposes.
• Stain slides using variety of stains such as Periodic Acid Schiffs and Leder Stains requiring many complex and delicate procedures and careful control of the staining reaction to achieve precise staining results.
• Select the proper controls to assure correct results of the stain or reaction, review staining quality for acceptability, and forward complete slide(s) to the pathologist.
• Adapt technical procedures for a number of different variables in the process of fixing and staining tissue.
• Conduct quality control procedures on equipment, reagents, and maintain proper records for quality control reports. Accept and reject slides on basis of proper staining by assessing the characteristics and quality of the stained material.

Qualifications

Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the experience requirements described below. 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document. Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes hard-resin embedding, cutting, chemically treating and staining tissue; operating and calibrating electron microscopy systems; managing file inputs and outputs including daily imaging; and conducting quality control procedures on histopathology equipment.. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-08). Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you must meet the qualification requirement using experience alone--no substitution of education for experience is permitted. Preferred but not required: A U.S. Certified Histotechnician (HT) or Histotechnology (HTL) through the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Board of Registry or comparable certification.

Required documents

The documents you are required to submit vary based on whether or not you are eligible for preference in federal employment. A complete description of preference categories and the associated required documents is in the Applicant Checklist for Public Announcements. As described above, your complete application includes your resume, your responses to the online questionnaire, and documents which prove your eligibility to apply. If you fail to provide these documents, you will be marked as having an incomplete application package and you will not be considered any further. 1. Your resume: Your resume must be two pages or less and must support the specialized experience described in this announcement. Resumes exceeding two pages will be removed from consideration. For each relevant work experience, make sure you include the employer's name, job title, start and end dates (include month and year), for qualifications purposes, the number of hours worked per week, and a brief description that show you can perform the tasks at the required level listed in the job announcement. If your resume does not contain this information, your application may be marked as incomplete, and you may not receive consideration for this position. Use plain language. Avoid using acronyms and terms that are not easily understood. The hiring agency will not make assumptions about what's in your resume. If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content, it will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations, and you may not be considered for this vacancy. For additional information, to include formatting tips, see: What to include in your resume. 2. Other supporting documents: Cover Letter, optional Most recent Performance Appraisal, if applicable NOTE: Documents submitted as part of the application package, to include supplemental documents, may be shared beyond the Human Resources Office. Some supplemental documents such as military orders and marriage certificates may contain personal information for someone other than you. You may sanitize these documents to remove another person's personal information before you submit your application. You may be asked to provide an un-sanitized version of the documents if you are selected to confirm your eligibility.