Veterinary Technician at University Health Network in Toronto, ON, CA

Company Description

UHN is Canada’s #1 hospital and the world’s #1 publicly funded hospital. With 10 sites and more than 44,000 TeamUHN members, UHN consists of Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, The Michener Institute of Education and West Park Healthcare Centre. As Canada's top research hospital, the scope of biomedical research and complexity of cases at UHN have made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. UHN has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in neurosciences, cardiology, transplantation, oncology, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, genomic medicine and rehabilitation medicine. UHN is a research hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto.

UHN’s vision is to build A Healthier World and it’s only because of the talented and dedicated people who work here that we are continually bringing that vision closer to reality.

www.uhn.ca

Job Description

Union: Non-Union
Number of Vacancies: 1
Replacement or New: Replacement
Site: Multi-site (Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, PMCRT, Max Bell)
Department: Animal Resource Centre
Reports to: Manager
Wages: $31.02 - $38.78 per hour
Hours: 37.5 hours/week
Shifts: Saturday-Wednesday 7 am - 3 pm
Status: Permanent Full Time
Closing Date: September 23, 2026

Position Summary
University Health Network (UHN) is looking for an experienced professional to fill the key role of Veterinary Technician in our Animal Resource Centre. Veterinary Technicians, within UHN's Animal Resource Centre, are involved in basic animal husbandry of multi species of laboratory animals and are responsible for the health and welfare of animals in their care. Duties include colony management, animal husbandry of a variety of species(large and small species), health monitoring, treatments and technical services such as blood draws, gavage and drug administration.

Veterinary Technicians are involved in day-to-day communication with clinical veterinarians and laboratory staff, contacting them by phone and or email with any issues involving animal health and welfare.

Duties

• Performing feeding, watering, cage changing as per ARC Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) appropriate for the species, as needed
• Ensuring appropriate environmental enrichment (EE) for the species is offered as per ARC SOP
• Taking care of special research models as per protocol e.g., immune deficient mice
• Taking care of large animal species as per protocol
• Caring for, cleaning and general maintenance of assigned animal housing rooms and associated equipment
• Taking care of animals with Biohazard areas following proper SOP, personal protective equipment (PPE) and decontamination procedures for PPE, equipment and waste leaving the containment area
• Maintains responsibility for animal health/welfare for animals assigned to care; conducting daily visual inspections and observations on food and water intake, cage conditions, alerting on call veterinarian to health issues and submitting sick cases
• Carrying out veterinary instructions given either by written (sick case) or verbal instructions, including administering drugs
• Updating sick cases and treatment sheets as required
• Notifying lab groups of issues concerning their animals verbally or by email
• Performing necropsy or tissue collection e.g., ecto/endo parasite check, microbiological samples taken, blood and/or serum samples, tissue for histology as needed
• Performing tissue sampling and post mortems, as directed by the attending veterinarian
• Ensuring room and facility conditions are adequate as per provincial legislation (Ontario Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs) and federal guidelines (Canadian Council on Animal Care) for animal holding areas, record keeping environmental conditions; temperature, humidity, light, ammonia levels
• Alerting Supervisor and/or Physical Plant Staff of any issues regarding environmental conditions
• Carrying out QA measures as directed by Supervisor or Manager, including: pH reading and recording, using air settle plates, fomite swabs for room and equipment microbiological monitoring
• Overseeing responsibilities on QA being carried out in the dirty and clean cage wash up areas by Animal Care personnel, as required
• Packaging tissue and biological samples appropriately for shipment to various testing facilities, as required
• Carrying out technical services on a fee for service basis for laboratory staff on a variety of laboratory animal species, as required, including: breeding colony maintenance, identification, DNA sampling, drug dosing, blood or tissue sampling, injections, gavage etc.
• Administration of drug or treatment as directed by on call veterinarian
• Maintaining record keeping for breeding colonies
• Maintaining record keeping for technical services for billing and invoicing
• Cage inventory and/or animals, on daily/weekly basis as part of the invoicing to investigators
• Inputting of inventory data to spreadsheets eg. colony census or as part of a breeding program
• Ensuring valid animal use protocol numbers are on cage cards and outside animal holding rooms as part of the provincial legislation and federal guidelines pertaining to housing and use of research animals
• Other administrative duties as assigned by the Supervisor or Manager

Qualifications

• Completion of a community college program in Veterinary Technology or recognized equivalent
• Registration with Canadian Association for Laboratory Animal Science as a Registered Laboratory Animal Technician, may be obtained after employment
• Minimum one year practical and related experience and/or 2 years on-the-job training required
• Previous experience within a laboratory animal facility
• Previous experience working with large animals in a research setting
• Experience handling laboratory animals; both rodents and larger animal species
• WHMIS training
• Ability to utilize Excel, Word and Outlook at moderate proficiency
• Ability to lift 50 lbs
• No known allergies to animals
• Exercise initiative and time management skills
• Effective and professional organizational, interpersonal and communication skills
• Exercise good judgement with ability to multi-task
• Compliance with confidentiality requirements
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team
• Ability to perform duties in a professional and courteous manner and produce high quality work while meeting deadlines
• Knowledge of applicable legislative, UHN and/or departmental policies
• Client service oriented, with the ability to effectively work with diversity and appreciate that people with different opinions, backgrounds and characteristics bring richness to the challenge or situation at hand

Additional Information

Why Join UHN?

In addition to working alongside some of the most talented and inspiring healthcare professionals in the world, UHN offers a wide range of benefits, programs and perks. It is the comprehensiveness of these offerings that makes it a differentiating factor, allowing you to find value where it matters most to you, now and throughout your career at UHN.

• Competitive offer packages
• Government organization and a member of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP https://hoopp.com/)
• Close access to Transit and UHN shuttle service
• A flexible work environment
• Opportunities for development and promotions within a large organization
• Additional perks (multiple corporate discounts including: travel, restaurants, parking, phone plans, auto insurance discounts, on-site gyms, etc.)

Current UHN employees must have successfully completed their probationary period, have a good employee record along with satisfactory attendance in accordance with UHN's attendance management program, to be eligible for consideration.

All applications must be submitted before the posting close date.

UHN uses email to communicate with selected candidates. Please ensure you check your email regularly. At University Health Network (UHN), artificial intelligence technologies may be used to assist in the screening, assessment, and selection of candidates for this position.

Please be advised that a Criminal Record Check may be required of the successful candidate. Should it be determined that any information provided by a candidate be misleading, inaccurate or incorrect, UHN reserves the right to discontinue with the consideration of their application.

UHN is an equal opportunity employer committed to an inclusive recruitment process and workplace. Requests for accommodation can be made at any stage of the recruitment process. Applicants need to make their requirements known.

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.