Biological Safety Associate Director and Biological Safety Officer

The Associate Director for Biological Safety and Institutional Biological Safety Officer is part of the Environmental Health, Safety, and Sustainability (EHSS) organization at Vanderbilt University. The Associate Director is a key leader responsible for developing and managing research-focused biological safety programs in EHSS. The Associate Director will act as the university’s Institutional Biological Safety Officer (BSO) as well as the Institutional Contact for Dual Use Research (ICDUR) to fulfill the university’s regulatory and granting agency obligations and will report directly to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Environmental Health, Safety, and Sustainability. The Associate Director will be responsible for providing innovative, strategic, and tactical leadership for a comprehensive biological safety laboratory program providing a safe work environment for all VU research community members, preventing loss of life and injury to faculty, staff, students, and visitors, protecting the environment, and protecting VU property. The program impacts the teaching and research mission of the university and individuals within the university community. The Associate Director has oversight and leads responsibility for university compliance to applicable laws and regulations, granting agency requirements, and applicable guidance such as that of the National Institutes for Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Associate Director supports the activities of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), the Institutional Review Entity (IRE) for dual use research, and might serve on multiple committees such as workplace safety committee, emergency management operations, risk management committee, etc. The Associate Director maintains extensive and frequent interaction with university research faculty, staff and students; Medical Center research faculty and staff; representatives of federal, State, and local agencies who have a vested interest in EHSS activities; and the broader university community.  They will support the success of a high-performing organization by championing and driving efficiency and effectiveness using safety informatics and metrics, databases, software, and technology.

 

About the Work Unit:

Environmental Health, Safety, and Sustainability is part of the Facilities department and consists of research-centric safety services and university sustainability leadership. EHSS is a 20-member team that supports a top-13 world-class research university with a community of 27,000 faculty, staff and students on 12 million square feet of academic, administrative, residential, and recreational space on 330 acres in downtown Nashville, TN. 

 Duties and Responsibilities:

• Act as the university’s subject matter expert for biological safety, biological materials, and dual use research of concern.
• Act as the university’s official Institutional Biological Safety Officer and Institutional Contact for Dual Use Research (ICDUR).
• Act as lead in compliance-related regulatory inspections or granting agency inspections. 
• Collaboratively develop vision, mission, budget, policies, procedures and key performance indicators for their area of EHSS at Vanderbilt. 
• Act as primary support, subject matter expert, and voting member of the university’s Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC).
• Establish and maintain productive and collegial relationships with applicable VUMC faculty and staff. 
• Manage external relationships with the CDC, National Institutes of Health, etc.
• Lead the implementation and adoption of EHS Assist software system related to their area of EHSS.
• Ensure regulatory and audit findings are timely and effectively addressed. 
• Develop opportunities for improvement in current biological safety services, faculty support processes, training, and information systems. 
• Ensure effective biological safety training modules are assigned to appropriate VU faculty, staff and students in Oracle Learn, provide in-person training sessions when needed, and ensure regulatory-required training completion data is tracked and reported appropriately. 
• Support VU Facilities projects which require biological safety guidance impacting laboratories. 
• Set EHSS biological safety and customer service standards to meet customer and administrative expectations. 
• Identify and implement best practices and corrective actions across the biological safety program 
• Manage and develop standard operating procedures and protocols for laboratory operations to safely manage any highly hazardous operations. 
• Develop effective emergency response plans for VU laboratories, serve as an emergency responder when needed, and provide leadership in any incidents or exposures in their area of EHSS.
• Ensure EH