Research Health Science Specialist

Summary

Please note: There is no pay or compensation associated with this position.

This position serves as a Without Compensation Research Health Science Specialist within the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The VA Research Program strives to promote Veteran-centered care to improve patient experiences and outcomes across VA healthcare and community settings, and to advance value-driven care by providing Veterans the highest quality care at the lowest financial burden.

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Duties

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Duties may include but are not limited to:

• Providing operational support and coordination for the implementation of VA research and quality improvement projects as directed.
• Handling project questions and problem independently in coordination with the PI.
• Managing timelines and deliverables for successful completion of the projects.
• Writing research policies, guidelines and procedures, and other documents, facilitating the compliance with all regulatory and administrative project requirements.
• May be responsible for medical abstraction.

Work Schedule: Intermittent

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Relocation/Recruitment Incentives : Not Authorized.

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship; non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/07/2026.

Individual Occupational Requirement: Basic Requirement: All qualified applicants must meet this Basic Requirement for the WOC-Research Health Scientist Specialist, 0601.

This minimum requirement is a Bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree: major study in an academic field related to the medical field, health sciences or allied sciences appropriate to the work of the position. This degree must be from an educational program from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education(external link) at the time the degree was obtained.

Minimum Qualifications: This Without Compensation position is equivalent to the GS-11. All qualified applicants must meet this Basic Requirement for a Research Health Science Specialist, 0601.

Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to performing:

1) Expertise in advanced physiological signal processing and non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring, directly supporting the technical objectives of the Smart Cuff research project.

2) Unique ability to bridge biomedical engineering, data analytics, and clinical research for the development and validation of novel patient-monitoring technologies.

3) Critical contributor to the analysis, validation, and interpretation of human-subject physiological data collected through VA-supported research activities.

4) Writes research policies, guidelines and procedures, and other documents to facilitate the compliance with all regulatory and administrative project requirements.

5) Responsible for medical abstraction activities, including identifying and screening eligible candidates and validating appropriate data elements of the project.

OR

Education A master's or equivalent graduate degree.

OR

Combination: Experience and education that equals 100%, when the percentage of experience and education are combined. Only graduate level education in excess of the amount required for the next lower grade level GS 09 may be combined with experience. The education for the GS 9 is 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree.

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.

Note : A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: The work is predominantly sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there will be some walking, standing, bending and carrying of items of moderate weight such as large binders, banker style file boxes, meeting materials, papers, books or small parts. Hand and eye coordination for delicate testing procedures may be the only special physical demand required to perform the work.

Education

PLEASE NOTE : Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications (particularly positions with a positive education requirement). Therefore, applicants must report only attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Applicants can verify accreditation at the following website: All education claimed by applicants will be verified by the appointing agency accordingly. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education.

Additional information

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions.

Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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There is no compensation or benefits associated with this position.

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