Sustainability Product Portfolio Administrator

The University of Utah is seeking a Sustainability Product Portfolio Administrator to enhance environmental sustainability in perioperative services. Responsibilities include implementing waste reduction initiatives, assessing sustainability purchasing practices, and developing collaborative relationships across departments. The role focuses on education, compliance, and data analysis related to sustainability efforts in the operating room. This position is based in Salt Lake City, UT and is not remote.
About the position

As a patient-focused organization, University of Utah Health exists to enhance the health and well-being of people through patient care, research and education. Success in this mission requires a culture of collaboration, excellence, leadership, and respect. University of Utah Health seeks staff that are committed to the values of compassion, collaboration, innovation, responsibility, diversity, integrity, quality and trust that are integral to our mission. EO/AA. This position will help implement 'Greening the OR' programs to enhance the environmental sustainability of perioperative and surgical services through waste reduction and environmentally preferred purchasing. Waste reduction and prevention initiatives may include regulated medical waste segregation/reduction, medical plastic upcycling/recycling, and medical device reprocessing. Environmentally preferred purchasing will consider environmental factors (positive effects on the environment and health), social factors (fair labor, human rights, local employment), and economic factors (longevity, total cost of ownership, disposal cost, quality, innovation). Environmentally preferred purchasing initiatives may include reducing excessive supplies from OR kits, purchasing reprocessed devices, transitioning from single-use to reusable devices, removing chemicals of concern (PVC/DEHP) from supplies, and enhancing the resilience of critical surgical supplies that are vulnerable to climate-change related crises. This position will report to the Director of Environmental and Social Sustainability and will receive strategic direction from a collaborative multi-departmental team including the Medical Director of Environmental and Social Sustainability, Chief Surgical Operations Officer, Associate Executive Director of Surgical Services, Senior Director Clinical Operations in Perioperative Services, and the Director of Community Engagement. This position is not responsible for providing care to patients.

Responsibilities
• Facilitates and expands current waste reduction initiatives including recycling and reprocessing in perioperative and procedural areas.
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• Assesses current sustainability purchasing practices, and researches opportunities related to cost-savings and environmental impacts to transition to lower waste alternatives.
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• Develops and maintains collaborative relationships with sustainability, perioperative services, environmental services, supply chain, and community engagement staff to ensure effective, result-oriented project outcomes.
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• Participates as a member of various hospital committees or sub-committees as a representative of sustainability.
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• Enhances OR and procedural sustainability through staff education and engagement. Directs, develops, and designs publications and departmental training programs for staff. Conducts regular rounding and audits to enhance program compliance and efficiency.
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• Develops committee and work group structures to support continuous environmental quality improvement in perioperative areas.
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• Collects and leverages data to conduct comprehensive analyses and benchmark Greening the OR initiatives. Populates data in institutional submissions for Practice Greenhealth, Healthcare Anchor Network, STARS, SIMAP and other platforms.
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• Establishes, sets targets for, and tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify progress on important sustainability metrics. Analyzes results on an ongoing basis to effectively audit progress and identify areas for continual improvement.
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• Coordinates with supply chain team, vendors and key business partners to identify opportunities for waste reduction, take back programs, and other ways to reduce total waste.
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• Coordinates product and purchased service evaluation processes including life cycle cost and total cost of ownership.
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• Embeds sustainability into perioperative and procedural pre-purchasing, purchasing and post-purchasing processes.
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• Performs other duties as required or assigned.

Requirements
• Bachelor's degree in a health or sustainability related specialty or equivalent.
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• Five (5) years of related experience.
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• Clinical perioperative/ procedural experience.

Nice-to-haves
• Master's degree in Health, Business, or an Environmental Specialty.
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• Licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN).
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• Experience conducting product evaluation, cost benefit analysis, and financial feasibility studies.
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• Experience with sustainability reporting, including Practice Greenhealth.

Benefits