Associate Chemist II, Bureau of the Public Health Laboratory

Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822 to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs and services. We serve as the population health strategist and policy and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:

1. To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems.
2. Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods.
3. Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness.
4. Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health.
5. Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change.

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity, and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

PROGRAM AND JOB DESCRIPTION:

The DOHMH Bureau of the Public Health Laboratory (PHL) seeks two qualified candidates to serve as Associate Chemist II. These positions will play integral roles in laboratory testing and responding to public health threats, including but not limited to COVID-19, vaccine preventable diseases, HIV, Legionella as well as respiratory, foodborne, and waterborne disease outbreaks. These positions will be assigned to the Wastewater Surveillance Unit of the Environmental Sciences Section at PHL. They will primarily be responsible for chemical and biological testing of NYC's wastewater as part of NYC wastewater surveillance program. This is an excellent opportunity to join our multidisciplinary team, and collaborate with local, state, federal, and academic partners.

We strongly encourage people to apply and contribute your diversity in thought, racial identity, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability status, veteran status, and/or LGBTQI+ status to enhance the work of the DOHMH and promote the health of all New Yorkers. We welcome applicants who share the vision for a city where all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, where they are from, or where they live.

DUTIES WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:

• Assist lab supervisors with routine laboratory operations and administrative tasks.
• Perform high and moderate complexity laboratory testing and procedures on clinical and environmental specimens submitted to the PHL.
• Use manual and automated methods and specialized instrumentation within the BSL-2 laboratory and high containment laboratory (BSL-3).
• Participate in cross-training program within PHL to assist with routine and surge events.
• Help establish or modify technical and non-technical procedures as needed.
• Generate and release reports, maintain records, and perform tasks related to laboratory testing.
• Maintain a program of quality control, participating in a program of quality assurance, and taking corrective action when needed.
• Prioritize, schedule, assign, and monitor work to optimize operational service.
• Ensure all regulatory and safety standards are followed and serves as a resource for accreditation compliance.
• Manage laboratory purchase of inventory, storage, and supplies usage.
• Assist the Unit Chief and/or Director with laboratory activities and operations.

Minimum Qualifications

Qualification Requirements: A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college, including or supplemented by 16 semester credits in chemistry and 8 semester credits in any one or a combination of the following areas: chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, environmental science, forensic science, or other natural science.

Certificate Requirement: At the time of appointment to a clinical laboratory, candidates must possess a valid License as a Clinical Laboratory Technologist issued by the New York State Education Department. This license must be maintained for the duration of employment.

Additional Qualification Requirements For Assignment Level II and above: To be eligible for placement in Assignment Level II and above, individuals must have, after meeting the minimum requirements described for Assignment Level I, at least two years of fulltime satisfactory experience performing chemical or physical analyses in a laboratory. Education may be substituted for experience on the basis of 30 graduate semester credits from an accredited college in any of the areas of study described in the qualification requirements above for one year of experience. However, all candidates must have a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college with the specialized credits as described above.

Preferred Skills: Experience in a clinical or environmental diagnostic testing laboratory.

Residency Requirement: New York City residency is required within 90 days of appointment. However, city employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.

Additional Information: The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.