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Veterinary Medical Officer, GS-0701
EXPERIENCE: One year of work experience is twelve months working full-time (at least 35-40 hours per week). Part-time experience can be pro-rated (i.e., a year at 20 hours per week is credited as 6 months of experience). If your position consisted of mixed duties, experience credit is given for the percentage of time that you spent on qualifying duties (i.e., if you held a position for 2 years, full-time, consisting of 25% personnel work and 75% budget work, and then applied for a budget position you could calculate your experience as follows: 2 yrs = 24 months. 24 months x 75% [percentage of time spent on budget duties] = 18 months of qualifying experience.)
GRADUATE EDUCATION: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.
For GS-09:
BASIC REQUIREMENTS:
Degree: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine or equivalent degree at a school approved or accredited by (a) the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), (b) a State department of education, or (c) a State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.
Graduates of foreign veterinary medical schools who do not meet the requirements specified above must furnish proof of (a) graduation from a veterinary medical school, (b) comprehension of and ability to communicate in the English language, and (c) passage of the written examination in veterinary medicine of the Education Commission for foreign Veterinary Graduates or the U.S. National board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. Proof of English language proficiency may be met by (1) achieving a total score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language of at least 550 with a listening comprehension score of at least 60 points, (2) earning an advanced degree (i.e., an M.S. or Ph.D.) at a U.S. college or university, or (3) graduating from a U.S. or Canadian English-speaking high school.
The following are exceptions to these requirements:
- Veterinarians who qualify between 1965 and 1972, who hold certificates under the program if the Educational Commission for Foreign graduates.
- Veterinarians who are graduates of foreign veterinary colleges that were included on the September 1, 1963, list entitled, "Foreign Veterinary Colleges Evaluated by the council of Education, American Veterinary Medical Association, "and who entered the United States or Canada and qualified as eligible for private practice or Federal employment on or before December 31, 1972.
For GS-11:
In addition to the basic requirements as stated above, applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-11 level:
**Master's degree, in addition to the D.V.M. degree, in an accredited college or university, in a field of veterinary or related science (e.g., microbiology, parasitology, pathology, immunology, or other specialty).
**OR Superior Academic Ability: If in the judgment of an appropriate faculty member(s), all of the requirements completed by the applicant within the last two years of an accredited D.V.M. program placed him/her in the upper quarter of the graduating class.
**OR one year of professional veterinary experience that shows demonstrated ability to perform independently veterinary medical duties or shows demonstrated aptitude or ability to perform research.
Examples of such experience may include the performance of routine medical examinations and testing of livestock; routine ante mortem and post mortem meat and poultry inspections; or routine examines of wildlife, amphibians, and avian species for pathological observation.
For GS-12:
In addition to the basic requirements as stated above, applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-12 level:
**One year of progressively responsible professional veterinary experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level in the Federal service.
Examples of such experience may include examining bacterial or viral biologics produced/proposed by firms for animal immunization; developing standards for laboratory biologics; diagnosing viral, bacterial, mycotic, parasitic, toxicogenic and nutritional diseases; examining tissues to isolate/characterize infectious agents; conducting autopsies for pathological changes, abnormalities; developing standard diagnostic reagents.
For GS-13:
In addition to the basic requirements as stated above, applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-13 level:
**One year of progressively responsible professional veterinary experience equivalent to at least GS-12 in the Federal service.
Examples of such experience may include veterinary medical officer-in-charge of a major ante mortem, post mortem, and allied inspection program; or a laboratory program with full range diagnostic functions of viral, bacterial, mycotic, parasitic, toxicogenic, and nutritional diseases; or a program of full range disease control, eradication and animal health activities in counties or states for amphibians/birds.
For GS-14:
In addition to the basic education requirement as stated above, applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-14 level:
**One year of progressively responsible professional veterinary experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 level in the Federal service.
Examples of such experience may include veterinary medical officer-in-charge of a large geographic area (e.g. several states) developing methods to investigate epidemic and endemic diseases, designing and evaluating programs for the prevention and control of diseases found in economically important animals, or transmissible to humans; evaluating new veterinary medical drug application to determine the safety and efficacy of the drug under the conditions of prescribed use, significance of dangers of use as compared to therapeutic benefits, and adequacy of directions; recommending approval or rejection of the new drug application; evaluating procedures presently in use and developing new procedures for examination of specific category (e.g., large animal) of viral, anaerobic, and aerobic biologics, and related products in connection with licensing and release of biological products; monitoring the application of test procedures and correlating findings to ascertain that such problems assure safe and potent products; and recommending that such procedures become standard requirements.
For GS-15:
In addition to the basic education requirement as stated above, applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-15 level:
**One year of progressively responsible professional veterinary experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 level in the Federal service.
Examples of GS-14 level work may include: (1) Developing and coordinating major interdisciplinary projects that may impact regional scientific objectives; 2) developing or directly influencing the scientific, administrative and technical policies, standards, procedures, and instructions necessary for the effective direction and operation of a multi-discipline scientific program; 3) resolving critical problems resulting from the unprecedented complexities of a multi-discipline scientific study; 4) serving as the principal contact with other Federal agencies, state and local government organizations, and other groups that may affect the success of a major interdisciplinary scientific program. The work involved advising or counseling other recognized senior technical experts.