Senior Prosector, Laboratory Support

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Responsible for providing pedagogical and technical support to faculty, instructors, and students in the Anatomy lab. Dissects and prepares high-quality anatomical specimens for teaching, assessment, and research; responsible for the embalming, preservation, and storage of human cadavers in the anatomical morgue. Works in collaboration with the Manager, Academic Delivery Support, to ensure that the lab functions effectively.

Specific Accountabilities:

• Academic activities: Organizes and prepares high quality dissections for medical students, medical residents, graduate students, health sciences teaching programs and a variety of internal and external clientele. Reviews questions and tags specimens accordingly in preparation for lab exams.

• Prosection: Responsible for high quality embalming and arterial injection of all human cadavers arriving at the faculty. Is responsible for proper identification, classification, and storage of cadavers in the anatomy morgue. Dissects and prepares high quality anatomical specimens for teaching, assessment, and research. Receives, embalms, injects, and preserves human cadavers and cadaveric material in the departmental morgue for the purpose of teaching and research within the Anatomy Program in consultation with the academic teaching staff. Utilize machinery for systematic sectioning of a donor body into its major anatomical regions for educational and research purposes.

• Specimen handling: Organizes the handling of transfer and reception of cadavers and other anatomical material, working closely with the Chief Coroner's office, Local Coroner, funeral directors, crematoria and other university and hospital institutions. Responsible for the completion of all necessary paperwork required by the provisions of the Anatomy Act and Human Tissue Gift Act of the Province of Ontario. May be called upon to receive body donations during weekends and holidays. Organizes the storage of human cadavers & cadaveric material in order that these items are readily available for the teaching and research requirements of the Anatomy Program. Prepares all solutions necessary for the embalming and for the preservation of dissected material. May be called upon to interact with families of those who have bequeathed their bodies for scientific and learning purposes. Accompany specimens to be utilized by external clients. This includes preparing, packaging, completing paperwork with airlines ahead of travel, transportation to and from workshops within and outside the province.

• Equipment maintenance & care: Organizes repairs and maintains inventory of the Anatomy Program osteology collection, including all articulated skeletons. Develops innovative techniques to effect repairs to the collection. Ensures that major repairs are escalated to the appropriate area. Assesses the need for laboratory equipment and provides recommendations so that acquisitions can be submitted. Assist staff with the preparation and set up of equipment and supplies for laboratories and tutorial sessions. In the absence of an Anatomy Lab Technician assist in the maintenance of high levels of cleanliness, tidiness, and good order with the gross anatomy areas of the department; actively prevents dehydration of dissected material by keeping it covered at all times with cloths soaked in a designated preservation solution.

• Operational support: Liaises with researchers to develop protocols for research using donor material. Compiles statistical information and assists the Division Head of the Anatomy Program in writing reports for the Anatomy Program. Participates in team meetings to canvas ideas for process improvement, actively listen and consider opinions from team members. Exchange technical and scientific information amongst colleagues.

• Administrative: In accordance with the provisions of the Ontario Anatomy and Human Gifts legislation, maintains records and executes the fulfillment of all legal requirements pertaining to the use and disposal of human cadaveric material used within the Anatomy Program. Ensures compliance with the Coroner's Act of Ontario. Responsible for the administration of the computerized database, consisting of bequeathal records, lab schedule, and human cadaveric material inventory. Writes, maintains, and updates standard operating procedures for all areas of the lab, including but not limited to chemical and donor preparation. Compiles statistical information and assists the Division Head of the Anatomy Program and Manager of Research Shared Services & Anatomy Division in writing reports on the Anatomy Program. Update and manage donor inventory tracking sheet between RGN morgue and the UOSSC. This includes scheduling team meetings to analyze and discuss plans for specimen use according to individual usage limitations.

Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

Essential Qualifications:

• University degree education in medical related field

• Minimum of five (5) years experience working in cadaveric lab and/or morgue

Other Qualifications:

• Must be fully conversant with all techniques pertaining to the preservation and storage of human cadavers, cadaveric material, and preparation of all necessary chemical solutions.

• Strong ability to work in a team setting as well as excellent mentoring skills.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills both verbally and written.

• Must be comfortable in the presence of cadavers and working in a morgue-like setting as well as tolerate chemicals used to fix the bodies.

• Experience managing database.

• Strong ability to resolve conflict.

• Ability to anticipate needs.

• Experience in interpreting, explaining, and applying policies and regulations.

• Ability to produce high quality work under pressure while meeting strict deadlines.

• Ability to interact with grieving individuals in a sensitive manner and with empathy, tact, and diplomacy.

• Strong organizational skills and demonstrated ability to be flexible.

• Bilingualism – English/French (spoken/written)

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Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 
Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.
The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.
If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

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