Overview:
This Antimicrobial Resistance (AR) Outreach Laboratorian is a member of an interdisciplinary team of epidemiologists and public health professionals. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to collaborate on a variety of high-profile public health issues, including communicable disease outbreaks, natural disaster surveillance and response, bioterrorism, and the development of surveillance activities to monitor antimicrobial resistance and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. This job is will require relocation to Tallahassee .
Essential Functions / Responsibilities:
• Foster collaboration, via phone calls, emails, and face-to-face meetings, between clinical laboratories and the state public health laboratories, especially in assessing and recommending improvements in capacity at the direction of the Department. Provide a follow-up report within seven business days of interaction with each laboratory detailing capacity improvement strategies.
• Support carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) testing at the state laboratory –including implementing new molecular tests for CRE and providing outreach and technical assistance to clinical microbiology laboratories and infection control programs to assist them in response and case reporting for CRE at the direction of the Department. Provide a follow-up report within seven business days of interaction with each laboratory detailing assistance provided.
• Provide on-site assistance, during outbreaks or other investigations, to infection control teams and microbiology staff to evaluate and recommend evidence-based practices for an improved response at the direction of the Department. Provide a follow-up report within seven business days of each outbreak or investigation detailing the assistance that was provided.
• Work closely with the Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Epidemiologist, via phone calls, emails, and face to face meetings, to provide expertise in laboratory testing practices and to ensure laboratories submitting data are meeting State requirements and using best practices at the direction of the Department. Provide a follow-up report within seven business days of interaction with each laboratory detailing data submission improvement strategies.
• Provide on-site technical assistance, including hands-on training of staff and subject matter expertise to state public health facilities when requested and in conjunction with epidemiology staff for investigating CRE and other multi-drug resistant outbreaks. This task will be assigned at the direction of the Department. The Department shall approve all training curriculum before the actual training. Provide a follow-up report within seven business days of interaction with each laboratory detailing technical assistance provided.
• Provide monthly outreach consisting of written notification to clinical laboratories designated by the Department regarding BPHL capabilities to perform CRE testing and the ability to refer appropriate samples to CDC.
• Provide outreach including working with, via phone calls, emails, and face to face meetings, clinical laboratories and targeting the larger hospital networks as identified by the Department to encourage them to submit isolates to BPHL for CRE testing if they do not have the capability or require additional characterization to be performed on CRE-suspect isolates. Provide a follow-up report, when completed, for each laboratory detailing outreach.
• Perform outreach activities including working with infection control program staff at health care institutions via phone calls, emails, and face-to-face meetings to determine appropriate testing based on the particular outbreak and when to send to BPHL as directed by the Department. This is particularly important in outbreak situations and will enable the BPHL and Bureau of Epidemiology to capture more data on CRE in the state. Provide a follow-up report within seven business days of interaction with each institution detailing outreach.
• Provide consultation, as assigned, to clinical laboratories and/or BPHL staff. The contractor will be responsible for traveling to all assigned locations.
• Attend all training requested by the CDC and approved by Department to ensure the contractor remains current in best laboratory practices. Provide a monthly progress report summarizing the development and status of tasks. 6.1.1 -6.1.10, and submit it to the Department no later than the 7th day of the following month.
• The Contractor, its employees, subcontractors, and agents must comply at all times with all Department data security procedures and policies in the performance of this scope of work as specified in the Data Security and Confidentially document attached to the purchase order.
Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology, Biology, Clinical Laboratory Science, Medical Technology, or equivalent degree in a health sciences field.
• Florida license in clinical or public health.
• Two years of experience within public health or clinical laboratory.
• One year of experience with Biological Safety Level (BSL) -2 operations.
• Two years of experience with Microsoft Office programs.
• Two years of experience planning, organizing, and coordinating work assignments.
• One year of epidemiology experience.
Note: Please utilize the opportunity to submit a cover letter expressing interest/explaining qualification match to the position as advertised.
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Mid Level Employment Type: Full-Time