Director – Ehs

Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center:  Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of diverse individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your diversity of culture, thinking, learning, and leading is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization:

OCRS - Sr. Staff

Job Summary:

JOB SUMMARY
The primary focus of this position is to implement, manage and improve the radiation safety and protection program for Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). This program is to ensure personnel safety using radioactive materials and radiation producing equipment as well as compliance with State and Federal regulations and VUMC’s various licenses and certified registrations.

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MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Act as primary contact for any inspections concerning radioactive material usage or radiation safety.  This includes the responsibility for determining and implementing any resulting corrective actions.
• Manage the Radiation Safety Program at VUMC which includes the specific aspects defined below.  Participate in all required management functions, such as annual reviews, budget meetings, and other required activities.  Prepare and deliver all required reports and presentations as manager of the Radiation Safety Program.
• Recruit, develop, retain, and manage support staff of the Radiation Safety Section of OCRS.
• Effectively perform as senior staff member of OCRS management.
• Innovate and manage the following programs:
  • VUMC Radiation Safety Committee and its subcommittees.  Enforce policies mandated by committees for all radioactive materials users.  Review research protocols.
  • Regional Hospital Radiation Safety Committees.  Manage Radiation Safety Committees for three Regional Hospitals.
  • Human Subjects Radiation Committee and the Radioactive Drug Research Committee – Serve as an ex-officio member of these committees.  Review human use protocols.
  • Research Protocol Management, Review and Support - Manage the submission, review, revision, and support of research protocols to use sources of ionizing radiation from ~60 principal researchers through the RSC Protocol Review Subcommittee.  This includes any health physics evaluations or development of new procedures that is needed to support new research proposals.
  • Radiation Safety Audit Program including OCRS, primary departments and ~140 research laboratory spaces authorized for radioactive materials. The Radiation Safety Program must be audited at least annually.
  • Broadscope License and Certified Registration program for radioactive material,  accelerators and X-ray equipment.  Submit amendments and renewals for the radioactive material licenses and certified registrations as necessary.   Currently responsible for two broad scope licenses, six specific medical radioactive licenses, and four certified registrations which includes ten nuclear medicine clinics, three radiation oncology clinics, two nuclear pharmacies, and numerous research laboratories.
  • Radiation Safety Training Program including the development and implementation of an annual radiation safety training program for radioactive material users as well as the development and implementation of online training modules for Radiation Safety Training, Radiation Safety Orientation, DOT training for radioactive material, and Radiation Safety Awareness Training.
  • Sealed Source Program - Manage the sealed source inventory and leak test program.
  • Personnel Monitoring, ALARA and Bioassay Program – develop and implement a comprehensive ALARA program for users of x-ray machines, irradiators, accelerators and radioactive materials.  Report ALARA program results quarterly to Radiation Safety Committee and to affected groups or individuals.  Ensure that calculations for radiation doses to workers resulting from intakes of radioactive material are performed.  Compile an annual summary of the employee radiation doses summing the external and internal radiation doses.  Investigate external radiation doses exceeding action levels and intakes of radioactive material exceeding action levels and implement corrective actions. 
  • Survey Meter Calibration Program – Manage the development and implementation of standard operating procedures for calibrating the various types of radiation detection equipment at VUMC.  Ensure that all equipment is calibrated at the frequency specified in VUMC’s broad scope license and certified registrations. 
  • Radiation Safety Database Development and Maintenance– Radiation Safety maintains compliance records in an access database.  Manage the maintenance and upgrades of this database.
  • Instructor – Teach a semester course in health physics for Nuclear Medicine Technology students. 
  • Radioactive Effluent Evaluation Program – Manage the development and implementation of a comprehensive program to monitor the release of radioactive material to the sanitary sewer system and to the air.
  • Radioactive Material Inventory Program – Manage the development and implementation of standard operating procedures for maintaining VUMC’s radioactive material inventory.  This includes ensuring orders for radioactive material are processed and that radioactive material is received, surveyed, entered into the database, and delivered in a timely manner.   The radioactive material inventory is maintained in the radiation safety database.  Ensure that radioactive material inventory in each research laboratory is reconciled with VUMC records quarterly.  Manage all administration and billing functions for Radioactive Materials Inventory Program.
  • X-Ray and Linear Accelerator Safety Program(>350 devices) – Manage state compliance inspections for all X-ray equipment in the School of Medicine and University Central.  Register X-ray equipment with the State of Tennessee.  Provide compliance inspection reports to the State.  Manage collection and payment of State X-ray registration fees.  Act as a liaison between VUMC and the State regarding X-ray equipment.  Develop and implement an audit program for the patient care X-ray inspection program.
  • Decommissioning Program - Manage the development and implementation of standard operating procedures for decommissioning radioactive material use areas.  Develop and implement and information management system to store decommissioning records.
  • Patient Therapy Support program – Provide health physics support for radiation therapies in VUH and VCH.
  • Shielding Design and Evaluation program - Design structural shielding for installations of accelerators, HDR units, irradiators, and x-ray equipment.  Provide shielding design reports to the State of TN for review and approval.  Conduct shielding evaluations of constructed or renovated facilities and provide these shielding evaluations to the State.
  • Health Physics support for clinical research protocols – Develop and implement health physics procedures for the various clinical research protocols.
  • Declared Pregnant Worker (DPW) Program – Provide counseling to declared pregnant workers.  Monitor radiation exposure to the embryo/fetus.  Liaison with Occupational Health Clinic for continued development of this program. 
  • Radiation Emergency Preparedness Program – Effectively respond to radiation incidents within VUMC as well as support for VUH response to external radiation incidents. 
  • Public Radiation Dose – Demonstrate that radiation doses to the public from VUMC’s licensed activities are in compliance with state and federal regulations.  Compliance will be demonstrated with a combination of radiation measurements and calculations.  Areas to be evaluated include brachytherapy patient rooms and air releases from a commercial cyclotron.
  • Budget Management – manage fee-for-service budgets related to meter calibration, RAM ordering/processing and dosimetry program.
  • Radioactive Material Security Program – Serve as Trustworthy and Reliability Official and manage the radioactive material security program.
  • VU RSO – Currently, serve as RSO for Vanderbilt University through a contract.
  • Implement new regulations and requirements as developed.
  • Other duties as assigned.

COMMUNICATION

Internal:  Frequent contact with all levels of administration, faculty, staff, students, and visitors including the presentation of technical and budget information where detailed explanation is required to obtain cooperation.  Frequent presentations utilizing PowerPoint presentation software.

External:  Frequent contact with consultants, contractors, vendors and regulatory agencies.

Physical Requirements

Be able to lift 50 lbs.  Must be willing and able to wear required personal protective equipment including protective clothing and gloves, eye/face protection, and, in some cases, negative or positive-pressure respiratory protection and participate as lead member of hazardous materials response team. 

Working Environment

Position requires entry into areas where biological and infectious agents, hazardous chemicals, and ionizing radiation may be used.

Job related skills

Applicant must possess excellent written and verbal communication skills for effective report writing, training, and consulting.  Must be proficient in the use of common computer programs including, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access and health physics databases.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE

Bachelors degree or higher in health or medical physics, nuclear engineering or other appropriate science-related field of study required.  4+ years of experience as an RSO or ARSO on broad scope license.  10+ years health physics experience with at least 6+ years experience in direct supervision and management of radiation safety professional and technical staff or equivalent.  ABHP Certification as a Health Physicist required.  Must meet all State of TN training and experience requirements for RSO as in indicated in NUREG 1556 Volume 9 and Volume 11 for medical facilities and broad scope academic/research facilities. 

Our professional administrative functions include critical supporting roles in information technology and informatics, finance, administration, legal and community affairs, human resources, communications and marketing, development, facilities, and many more.

At our growing health system, we support each other and encourage excellence among all who are part of our workforce. High-achieving employees stay at Vanderbilt Health for professional growth, appreciation of benefits, and a sense of community and purpose.

Core Accountabilities:

* Organizational Impact: Implements strategies for a sub function with direct impact to the function results.* Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Resolves highly complex business issues that are often unprecedented that have immediate impact on own sub-function or entity and wider implications to the organization. * Breadth of Knowledge: Applies expertise within professional/technical area and uses advanced business knowledge to develop objectives.* Team Interaction: Leads a sub-function serving the organization at large or across one or more entity(s).

Core Capabilities :

Supporting Colleagues: - Develops Self and Others: Acts upon constructive feedback from all levels of the organization and initiates strategies to develop talent in others. - Builds and Maintains Relationships: Leverages relationships and insight to forecast potential future needs and influence delivery of work to exceed expectations. - Communicates Effectively: Anticipates difference audience concerns, styles and finds mutually beneficial solutions across conflicting and sensitive issues. Delivering Excellent Services: - Serves Others with Compassion: Demonstrates in-depth knowledge of broad-based issues and considers the interests of others to improve satisfaction of services. - Solves Complex Problems: Critically evaluates complex information and identifies trends/risks to make recommendations to improve processes across areas. - Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing feedback and development discussions to motivate and support team members to maximize performance. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Anticipates problems or obstacles which may interfere with quality standards and develops plants to ensure area’s quality standards are met. - Ensures Continuous Improvement: Routinely draws upon valuable learning from others, past experiences, and new information to determine key opportunities. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Develops appropriate corrective actions for unsafe environments in order to ensure operational and safety compliance. Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Identifies potential obstacles to goal achievement and develops solutions to address those obstacles. - Stewards Organizational Resources: Creates the appropriate systems and processes to effectively manage resources. - Makes Data Driven Decisions: Applies in-depth knowledge of data to recommend and implement new approaches to improve decision making capabilities. Fostering Innovation: - Generates New Ideas: Identifies opportunities and leads development of new initiatives that create value across areas. - Applies Technology: Creates the energy and drive for self/others to identify and leverage technology in new, innovative ways to drive greater efficiencies. - Adapts to Change: Anticipates the change process and clearly communicates impact on others/own team(s), assisting them in embracing the change.

Position Qualifications:

Responsibilities:

Certifications:

Work Experience:

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level:

7 years

Education:

Bachelor’s

Vanderbilt Health recognizes that diversity is essential for excellence and innovation. We are committed to an inclusive environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and to the principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. EOE/AA/Women/Minority/Vets/Disabled