Assistant Biosafety Officer

Overview

Dean of Research, Stanford, California, United States. Health and Safety. The Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) at Stanford University supports teaching, learning, and research activities by promoting a safe and healthy environment. With over 50 specialists across 10 technical groups, we collaborate with researchers, faculty, staff, and students to provide practical safety and environmental solutions. Our work environment is team-oriented, collaborative, vibrant, and deadline-driven.

EH&S seeks an Assistant Biosafety Officer (ABSO), who will support Stanford University’s biological safety programs, reporting to the institutional biosafety officer (BSO). The ABSO supervises a dedicated team of biosafety specialists who provide protocol review, consultation, and in-field services to the research community. This position helps design, develop, and manage Biosafety & Biosecurity (B&B) programs across Stanford’s research enterprise, including the School of Medicine (SoM).

The ABSO provides technical, regulatory, and administrative support to Stanford’s Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC), which oversees work with rDNA and infectious agents, while ensuring regulatory compliance and fostering productive relationships with PIs involved in cutting-edge research.

• Develop, implement, and oversee biosafety programs; interpret policies and procedures as they apply to environmental, health, and safety practices.
• Serve as a subject matter expert in one or more areas of environmental, health, and safety specialization; lead technical meetings; represent assigned area in meetings and interact with internal and external customers.
• Directly supervise and provide guidance to individual contributors, including contractors and matrixed staff, external to the organization.
• Develop training programs and effective communication strategies around biosafety protocols and practices; create outreach for researchers, particularly students and post-docs, to be implemented on a rolling basis to continuously capture new incoming researchers.
• Ensure programs and practices comply with applicable statutes and regulations and that environmental, health, and safety requirements are met.
• Investigate and resolve questions or complaints from within the organization, customers, government regulatory agencies, etc.
• Ensure environmental, health, and safety inspections are conducted, corrective actions are completed on time, and all necessary documentation is maintained.
• Develop, maintain, audit, and evaluate current policies, procedures, and documentation for regulatory compliance and continuous improvement. May represent the university as a designated safety officer when mandated by regulatory requirements.

• Program Oversight and Development
• Serve as a member of designated research compliance committees; facilitate risk assessment and registration application processes for rDNA, prion-like proteins, and biological agent protocols.
• Utilize data metrics to recommend corrective actions and continuous enhancements to biosafety programs.
• Conduct audits and assessments to maintain compliance with statutes and regulations relating to biosafety.
• Investigate and address issues or complaints from the university community and external or regulatory agencies.
• In alignment with the BSO, support compliance programs including blood borne pathogens, aerosol transmissible diseases, high containment research, specialized laboratory facility design and review, and compliant operation of specialized biocontainment facilities.
• Build relationships and increase collaboration
• Supervise and mentor biosafety specialists and support staff, fostering professional growth and development within the team.
• Represent the Biosafety Office in interdepartmental and external engagements.
• Cultivate strong, collaborative relationships with department chairs, faculty, researchers, and staff to enhance biosafety practices and foster proactive risk management.
• Assist researchers with review of proposed work and identification of appropriate biological laboratory containment levels, biosafety practices and…