Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:
1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

PROGRAM AND JOB DESCRIPTION:

The New York City (NYC) Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) is a public health leader serving over 8.4 million New York City residents from diverse ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. The NYC Public Health Laboratory (PHL) is one of the largest local public health laboratories in the United States offering a dynamic and innovative work environment where employees contribute to the health and safety of NYC residents by providing clinical and environmental laboratory testing services. With more than 100 years of leadership in public health, a team of over 200 scientific and support staff are committed to its mission to safeguard the health of all NYC residents by providing quality laboratory testing services that support the priorities of the NYC DOHMH and its community partners to prevent and respond to clinical and environmental public health concerns. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Public Health Laboratory is seeking to hire a qualified Laboratory Associate.

DUTIES WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:

* Maintain storage and security of laboratory inventory supplies and equipment.

* Prepare media and other supplies for distribution throughout the building.

* Maintain upkeep of designated laboratory instruments before and after usage.

* Will be assigned to the receiving/stock room of the laboratory.

* Receive, sort, accession and deliver specimens, not limited to outbreak specimens to testing laboratory.

* Other activities include, but not limited to:

* Preparation of shipping boxes and containers.

* Preparation of shipping documents.

* Packaging of specimens, Delivery of packaged specimens to the courier pickup site in PHL.

* Emailing the recipient and the provider with courier tracking number.

* Tracking shipped specimens.

* Monitoring temperatures of cold instruments daily.

High school diploma or its equivalent and:
1. One year of appropriate full-time experience or training in a biological, chemical, or clinical laboratory; or

2. Eight credits, including laboratory coursework, in biology, chemistry, or medical technology, from an accredited college or university; or

3. A satisfactory equivalent combination of (1) and (2) above. However all candidates must have a high school diploma or its equivalent.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.