Histopathology Technician

Who May Apply: US Citizens In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or 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 assisting with cutting and staining human tissuespecimens for microscopic examinations; testing and examining body fluids; and maintaining and calibrating pathology equipment and instruments. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-06). OR Education: Successful completion of one full academic year of graduate level education in a field directly related to the work of the position, such as chemistry, biology, microbiology, histotechnology, human anatomy, or biomedical science. (Note: You must attach a copy of your transcripts.) OR Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) by 18. Add the two percentages.

Frozen tissue processing for surgical tissues.

Prepare tissue specimens for diagnostic examination.

Cut specimens and determines methods in preparing tissue for microscopic examination.

Freeze, cut (cryotomy) and stain tissue for intraoperative rapid diagnosis of cancer in surgical specimens.

Operate the highly complex immunohistochemical stainer to produce targeted immunostains.

Serve as a grossing technician as an adjunct to the pathologists.

Operate and maintain instruments and equipment to process tissue specimens.

Maintain adequate supplies, calibrate and maintain instruments and equipment, maintain a file system of pathologic materials.

Process and ship surgical cases, special tumor studies, autopsy materials and other pathologic specimens requiring referral to a specialty lab).