Senior Medical Laboratory Scientist (Path & Lab)

Senior Medical Lab Scientist

What we do here changes the world. UTHealth Houston is Texas' resource for healthcare education, innovation, scientific discovery, and excellence in patient care. That's where you come in.

This Senior Medical Lab Scientist in this role performs specimen testing and analysis to ensure accurate, timely results while supporting continuous improvement and laboratory safety. Responsibilities include maintaining equipment and supplies, performing quality control, assisting with complex testing, training and guiding staff, supporting CAP inspections, and overseeing lab operations in the absence of the manager. The position also responds to emergencies and supports overall laboratory quality and compliance.

Once you join us you won't want to leave. It's because we reward our team for the excellent service they provide. Our total rewards package includes the benefits you'd expect from a top healthcare organization (benefits, insurance, etc.), plus:

• 100% paid medical premiums for our full-time employees
• Generous time off (holidays, preventative leave day, both vacation and sick time – all of which equates to around 37-38 days per year)
• The longer you stay, the more vacation you'll accrue!
• Longevity Pay (Monthly payments after two years of service)
• Build your future with our awesome retirement/pension plan!

We take care of our employees! As a world-renowned institution, our employees' wellbeing is important to us. We offer work/life services such as...

• Free financial and legal counseling
• Free mental health counseling services
• Gym membership discounts and access to wellness programs
• Other employee discounts including entertainment, car rentals, cell phones, etc.
• Resources for child and elder care
• Plus many more!

Position Summary: Provides technical and supervisory skills necessary to ensure the prompt completion of all medical laboratory tests and procedures.

Position Key Accountabilities:

• Receives or collects specimens and performs applicable testing to attain and report accurate results according to procedure. Analyzes a wide variety of samples including but not limited to blood, body fluids, and tissue.
• Actively participates in continuous improvement of laboratory services to ensure high quality and timely results for quality diagnosis. Identify any issues which might adversely impact the quality of test results and/or employee safety and immediately communicate these to the appropriate management representative as necessary for prompt resolution.
• Maintains laboratory in a clean, functional state including cleaning or performing scheduled equipment maintenance, calibrations, and certifications as required. Reviews monthly maintenance and temperature logs to further ensure compliance.
• Maintains necessary reagents and test supplies to guarantee test results in an optimal amount of time. Ensures proper inventory management including rotating items as necessary and ordering.
• Performs quality control testing on special samples to give a predetermined result and ensure adequate reactivity of reagents. Values are recorded and measures are taken to correct performance if necessary. Reviews QC to ensure continued quality test results of all assays.
• Reviews the work of the Medical Laboratory Scientist and other laboratory staff when necessary. Assists with more complex tests as well as troubleshooting problematic assays.
• Provides work direction and guidance to personnel within department. May lead projects and activities.
• Provides training and competency of new employees as well as maintaining competencies on existing employees. Ensures completion of competencies, including proper documentation.
• Prepares and assists with maintaining departmental readiness for CAP inspections and stay knowledgeable of the CAP Checklists. Actively participate in the PT process, to include assigning, performing, reviewing, and submitting PT results to CAP.
• Supervises the management of all laboratory functions and staff in the absence of manager. Responds to emergencies and is available for phone calls/call back work, as necessary.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Certification/Skills:

• Knowledge of scientific approach and methodologies.
• Ability to design, organize, and coordinate scientific research projects.
• Ability to read, understand, follow, and enforce safety procedures.
• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal.
• Certified Medical Lab Scientist (MLS(ASCP)) by American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) required

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's Degree in Biology, Chemistry, Medical or Clinical Laboratory Science, or related field required

Minimum Experience:

3 years of experience as a Medical Laboratory Scientist required

Physical Requirements:

Exerts up to 50 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 20 pounds frequently and/or up to 10 pounds constantly to move objects.

Security Sensitive:

This position is a security-sensitive position pursuant to Texas Education Code §51.215 and Texas Government Code §411.094. To the extent that a position requires the holder to research, work on, or have access to critical infrastructure as defined in Texas Business and Commerce Code §117.001(2), the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure is a minimum qualification to be hired for and to continue to be employed in that position. Personnel in such positions, and similarly situated state contractors, will be routinely reviewed to determine whether things such as criminal history or continuous connections to the government or political apparatus of a foreign adversary might prevent the applicant, employee, or contractor from being able to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure. A foreign adversary is a nation listed in 15 C.F.R. §791.4.

Residency Requirement:

Employees must permanently reside and work in the State of Texas.