Associate Director of HLA Laboratory - Houston Methodist
The Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine at Houston Methodist invites applicants for an Associate Director, HLA Laboratory. The Department is the exclusive provider of pathology services for Houston Methodist (HM) which has seven hospitals in the Houston area. HM currently has more than 2,500 beds and is expanding within the greater Houston area. Houston Methodist is one of US News and World Reports’ Honor Roll Hospitals and has been ranked the No. 1 hospital in Texas 10 years in a row.
The HLA Laboratory is located at the system’s flagship hospital, Houston Methodist Hospital (HMH) located in the Texas Medical Center. The laboratory provides full services dedicated to solid organ transplantation and hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation (HPCT) for HMH and other hospitals in the Texas Medical Center. The laboratory operates in approximately 3900 square feet encompassing separate areas for pre-analytical work, amplification, post-analysis, and office space for testing and evaluating testing results. We provide all laboratory testing for the Houston Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center that performed 580 transplants in 2021 including Kidney (241), Kidney-Pancreas (15), Heart (66), Lung (71) Heart-Lung (3), Liver (182), and Pancreas (2). Testing for the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy for both adults at HMH and children at the neighboring Texas Children’s Hospital is performed in the HMH HLA Laboratory. Last year, 167 autologous and 60 allogeneic HPCT transplants were performed at HMH. HLA typing is primarily performed by next generation sequencing. Additional testing includes HLA-specific antibody identification and monitoring, disease association testing, and organ crossmatching.
The HLA Laboratory is accredited by ASHI and CAP. In addition to the mission of clinical service to HM and the community, the HLA Laboratory has academic pursuits including the performance clinical and translational research projects. The laboratory has an ASHI-accredited HLA Director Training Program and has the only ACGME-accredited fellowship program for training MD HLA laboratory directors.
The ideal successful applicant should have at least 5 years of experience in directing an accredited HLA laboratory and will possess a PhD, or MD, MD/PhD, DO or equivalent degree, and be a fellow or affiliate of the American College of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ACHI). Outstanding applicants with less experience may be considered. The applicant must also meet CLIA’88 requirements and American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) standards to serve as Director, Technical Supervisor, and Clinical Consultant. Physician candidates must have or be able to obtain a Texas medical license. The responsibilities of the associate director include ensuring continued use of appropriate and current methodology, providing clinical consultative services to medical and technical staff and providing continuing education of medical and technical staff. The applicant may also participate in medical education and development of collaborative/independent research in transplantation biology. HM has a primary academic affiliation with Weill Cornell Medical College, and the successful candidate may be eligible for a faculty appointment.
A generous salary with excellent benefits is offered, and assistance with relocation can be provided.
Interested candidates should email their CVs, and names and contact information of three professional references to dwbernard@houstonmethodist.org, David W. Bernard, MD, PhD, Executive Vice-Chair of Clinical Pathology Services, Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine, MS 205, Houston Methodist Hospital, 6565 Fannin Street, Houston, Texas 77030. Fax: 713-441-1565; Phone: 713-441-4456.