Jeremy Vela
Deer Park,TX
Summary
Seasoned Field Surveillance Coordinator and Avian Biologist with Harris County Public Health Mosquito and Vector Control, adept in mosquito trapping and avian activities supervision. Excelled in training employees, enhancing surveillance efficiency, and managing databases. Demonstrates strong supervisory skills and proficient in Microsoft Office, ensuring operational excellence and innovative vector control solutions.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Field Surveillance Coordinator
Harris County Public Health Mosquito and Vector Control
07.2013 - Current
- Training employees on proper procedures for surveillance trapping.
- Setting traps throughout the year, as needed.
- Management of the database for sites used in surveillance.
- Producing surveillance sheets with proper information used in daily trapping.
- Help the lab surveillance coordinator with pooling duties of mosquito specimens.
- Aid the lab surveillance coordinator in entering pooling, and other data into the database.
- Assigning routes to technicians for the weekly mosquito surveillance schedule.
- Mapping out routes for optimal efficiency during winter and summer trapping.
- Assisting the surveillance supervisor in explaining the workings of surveillance in Core Tours.
- Helping with special projects that involve surveillance operations.
- Stocking vehicles with proper equipment for trapping.
- Monitoring vehicles for yearly inspections and maintenance.
Avian Biologist
Harris County Public Health Mosquito and Vector Control
02.2012 - 07.2013
- Supervising and training seasonal employees on the daily operations of avian activities.
- Taking supervisory training for the proper protocols involved with Harris County Public Health.
- Trapping live birds and taking blood samples to test for arboviruses.
- Banding live birds and entering the band numbers into Bandit.
- Processing live bird sera samples in the lab for virology testing.
- Entering live bird data into the Mosquito and Vector Control database.
- Setting surveillance schedules for live bird trapping.
- Dead bird routing and collecting for surveillance of viral activity around Harris County.
- Dealing with citizens who have issues or concerns that involve avian activities.
- Testing dead bird samples using Vector Test and RAMP reading equipment.
- Entering dead bird data into the Mosquito and Vector Control database.
- Taking dead birds and live bird sera samples to UTMB, Galveston, for testing.
- Presenting topics involved with avian at TMCA.
- Producing an end-of-the-year report over the year’s data and highlights.
- Managing a budget to acquire necessities to cover what is needed for day-to-day activities.
- Knowledge of purchase orders to obtain and restock lab and avian materials needed to run avian.
- Working in conjunction with the Branch Manager to ensure that the objectives are being fulfilled.
- Giving updates on the status of avian operations at supervisory meetings.
Surveillance Technician
Harris County Public Health Mosquito and Vector Control
05.2010 - 02.2012
- Setting C.D.C. light, gravid, and B.G. sentinel traps to obtain mosquito samples for vector testing.
- Processing mosquitoes for identification and vector testing.
- Identifying mosquitoes to species, and pooling specimens for vector testing.
- Create hay infused water used in gravid traps.
- Aid fabrication technicians in fixing old traps and manufacturing new traps.
- Collecting permission slips around Harris County to allow for surveillance operations
- Stocking vehicles with proper equipment for trapping needs.
- Mapping out routes around Harris County using a key map.
- Help area profile survey areas for water-holding structures using ArcGIS.
- Aid the avian biologist in collecting dead birds for vector testing.
Education
B.S. - Entomology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX12.2007
Skills
- Supervisory skills
- Microsoft Office software
- Proper use of purchase orders
- Knowledge of creating the mosquito surveillance weekly report
- Mosquito trapping knowledge
- Training seasonal employees on proper trapping methods
- MCDweb data base knowledge and usage
- Acquisition and inventory of proper items for day-to-day tasks
- POD training and disaster relief response
- Hurricane relief knowledge of landing rate counts
Certification
- Leadership Certifications
- Communication Certifications
- Larval and Adult Identification Specialist
- FEMA Certifications
- TDA Noncommercial Pesticide Applicator License
Timeline
Field Surveillance Coordinator
Harris County Public Health Mosquito and Vector Control
07.2013 - Current
Avian Biologist
Harris County Public Health Mosquito and Vector Control
02.2012 - 07.2013
Surveillance Technician
Harris County Public Health Mosquito and Vector Control
05.2010 - 02.2012
- Leadership Certifications
- Communication Certifications
- Larval and Adult Identification Specialist
- FEMA Certifications
- TDA Noncommercial Pesticide Applicator License
B.S. - Entomology
Texas A&M University
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