Environmental & Occupational Health Lead

About the role

The Environmental & Occupational Health Lead serves as the VA MDE program's premier clinical authority on toxic exposure, environmental hazards, and occupational health–related disability conditions. This role is based in either the Fairfax, VA or Lafayette, LA office, with a hybrid working model available.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the program's senior clinical authority for all Environmental & Occupational Health DBQs and toxic exposure cases (e.g., burn pits, Agent Orange, contaminated water, chemical/toxin exposure).
• Maintain mastery of evolving PACT Act exposure categories, presumptive conditions, and emerging VA guidance and ensure timely integration into examiner training and workflows.
• Lead clinical quality assurance processes for environmental and occupational health evaluations, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and defensibility of all DBQs.
• Conduct case reviews and provide remediation coaching to examiners who produce insufficient or inconsistent reports.
• Collaborate with Quality & Compliance teams to ensure adherence to prescriptive VA forms, documentation rules, and disability rating sufficiency standards.
• Develop specialized training (initial and recurring) for examiners on environmental exposures, toxicology principles, and exposure–condition linkage analysis.
• Mentor examiners on differentiating environmental vs. non‑environmental etiologies and documenting impairment aligned with VA rating criteria.
• Work with the Medical Director, Mental Health Lead, Audiology Lead, and Program Operations to align environmental/occupational protocols with broader clinical governance.
• Advise technology, analytics, and workflow teams on identifying exposure‑related claims, streamlining triage, and improving accuracy in exam pathways.
• Ensure exam processes reflect trauma‑informed, exposure‑informed evaluation methods, especially for veterans with long‑term toxic exposure concerns.
• Partner with operations to reduce rework, accelerate cycle times, and improve overall trust and satisfaction among veterans undergoing exposure‑related assessments.

Requirements

• Education: Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) degree; completion of an ACGME‑accredited residency in Preventive Medicine and/or Occupational Medicine; Board Certified or Board Eligible in Preventive/Occupational Medicine.
• Licensure: Full, current, unrestricted medical license issued by a U.S. state medical board; demonstrated good standing with no history of disciplinary actions.
• Experience: Minimum 3 years of experience completing VA disability examinations or equivalent IME experience; documented expertise assessing hazardous environmental exposures (e.g., Agent Orange, burn pits, PACT Act exposures), occupational exposures, chemical hazards, respiratory exposures, and toxicology‑related impairment; demonstrated ability to lead, instruct, and quality assure multidisciplinary clinical examiners.
• Core Competencies: Deep understanding of VA disability DBQs, sufficiency standards, and adjudication expectations; ability to translate complex environmental exposure science into clear, defensible DBQ narratives; strong communication and clinical documentation excellence; hazardous environmental exposure experience (Agent Orange, PACT Act).

Desired Qualifications

• Experience with World Trade Center Health Program, industrial toxicology programs, or large‑scale exposure assessment programs.
• Prior service as a Chief Medical Officer, government physician, or senior DoD/VA clinical leader.
• Familiarity with VA technology systems, electronic DBQ tools, or EHR‑related project implementation.
• Background in occupational epidemiology, environmental risk modeling, or exposure surveillance program design.
• Experience working within large federal