Director, Lab Animal Services

The Director of the Division of Laboratory Animal Services will report to the Office of the Associate VP for Basic Science Research and provide for the collaboration and integration of laboratory animal resources and support research effort through direction over the Animal Care and Use Program.

The Director will serve as the Attending Veterinarian (AV) and as such, will assume the Leadership role for implementation of the animal care and use program and will have sufficient authority, as provided by the institution, to treat an animal and institute appropriate measures to relieve pain or distress, including euthanasia.

The Director is expected to work collaboratively with the Institutional Official, the IACUC, Research staff and internal and external regulatory agencies.The Director is responsible to recognize and maintain adequate resources to manage the overall program of veterinary care and will supervise the Clinical Veterinary staff to provide clinical care, health surveillance and program oversight.

The responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Responsible for oversight of preventative medicine programs and psychological welfare and enrichment program for multiple species.

Provide oversight of additional aspects of the veterinary care program, such as health surveillance, medical treatment, anesthetic and analgesic protocols and guidelines, handling, and immobilization, and oversight of other related aspects such as housing and husbandry.

Provide guidance and oversight to surgery programs and perioperative care.

Ensure the clinical veterinary staff remain knowledgeable about the latest practices and procedures to ensure that high quality care is provided to animals.

Ensure that timely provision of veterinary medical care, and emergency veterinary care is available at all times, including after work hours, on weekends, and on holidays.

Provide direct supervision to the Assistant Director of LAS, Clinical Veterinarian, LAS Training Coordinator, Post Approval Monitor, Business Manager, and the Administrative Associate assigned to the Director.

Work in cooperation with leadership to develop and operationalize both short and long term strategic growth plans and evaluate feasibility and financial impact of projects.

Responsible for continuous quality monitoring to ensure best practice models are implemented and program excellence is obtained.

Investigate external revenue sources, grant availability and institutional support to provide additional departmental funding.

Use international standards (programmatic, engineering, and facility) such as the AAALAC program description outline to identify strengths and weaknesses of the current program and provide guidance on what to target for improvement.

Initiate and implement programmatic improvemens and procedures to support quality standards of operation within the current academic culture.

Develop a diplomatic and effective working relationship with animal care, management, research staff, faculty and students at AU.

Assist in facility design using current available technology to improve animal micro and macro environments as well as staff occupational health in existing facilities withing appropriate fiscal parameters as provided by the Provosts office.

Povide recommendations nd support for facility design for the humane use of animals in the planning of renovations to or new construction of facilities for animal care and use in research.

Provide support to the IACUC in the coduct of the oversight of the use of animals in research.

Reviews the use of animals in submitted applications to the IACUC to assure humane animal use following current international standards.

Responsible to understand and inform the IACUC committee on current standards of humane animal care and use and relevant regulatory requirements.

Serves as the Attending Veterinarian on the IACUC Committee.

Ensure a strategic plan of standard operating procedures to provide quality and efficient material management with animal caging procesing at its center, husbandry programs, animal behavior and environmental enrichment, veterinary medicine programs of prevention, health surveillance, control and treatment, post IACUC approval monitoring of animal studies, experimental technical support, occupational health and safety, and quality assurance to provide a central resource that provides support for the humane use of animals in research.

Facilitate program regulatory requirements to ensure training is provided to husbandry, technical, and research staff on humane methods of animal care and use and relevant policies and procedures.

Coordinate with the Business Manager to assess feasibility, financial impact, and project timeliness.

Assist with special projects as needed.

Reconcile and approce P-Card purchases and allocations for three P-Card users in abscense of Business Manager.

Perform all other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements A Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from an institution accredited by the AVMA Council on Education (COE).

Residency or equivalent experience in clinical laboratory animal medicine and experience in medicine, surgery, and management of rodents and other species of lab animals.

Must hold a license to practice Veterinary Medicine in at least one state.

Must be eligible to obtain a license to practice Veterinary Medicine and be Accredited within the State of Georgia.

Preferred Qualifications Experience with management of rodent colonies.

Experience with non-human primates would be beneficial but not required.

Board certification or board eligibility by the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine.

Knowledge of staff and executive level recruitment/retention, program cost modeling; comprehensive knowledge of personnel administration, fund management, and financial reporting.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities Ability to maintain confidentiality and to supervise others Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills Proficient in Microsoft Office and other computer software/databases Willingness and ability to work with research animals