Career Center

The Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology serves as a regional resource for clinical laboratory services required for patient care, research and educational programs in laboratory medicine and pathology. The department now employs 900 people who work at the award-winning University of Washington Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center and many other clinical and research facilities in the area. The University of Washington (UW) is proud to be one of the nation’s premier educational and research institutions. Our people are the most important asset in our pursuit of achieving excellence in education, research, and community service. Our staff not only enjoys outstanding benefits and professional growth opportunities, but also an environment noted for diversity, community involvement, intellectual excitement and natural beauty.

Our Laboratory Medicine and Pathology department has an outstanding opportunity for a FULL-time (100%) Genetics Health Services Manager. The person in this role will manage the clinical operations of Genetics Laboratory in Laboratory Medicine, which is comprised of the Northwest Clinical Genomics Laboratory (NCGL) and the Genetics and Solid Tumors Laboratory. Supervise Medical Laboratory Scientists and ancillary staff; manage quality assurance, preventive maintenance, safety, continuing education, and student programs for the Genetics Lab. Budget responsibilities include but not limited to FTE, budget development, recommending budgetary goals based on prior performance and known upcoming expenses, and managing division expenditures to maintain the expected budget.  The manager will be primarily responsible for clinical staff in the Genetics Lab through close collaboration with the Manager of the Genetics Clinical Research Lab.

This position is responsible for the performance of the Genetics division of the laboratory, including staff performance and productivity. The manager must be cognizant of the quality of work performed and recognize when changes occur in vendors’ products or in the staff’s ability to produce quality results for any other reason. It is the manager’s responsibility to mentor the staff and liaise closely with the faculty to keep all faculty and administration aware of the work quality being reported. If necessary, the manager makes changes as needed to staffing and research, and develops recommendations to the director if there is a need to consider changes in procedure and/or equipment. The manager has a responsibility to stay abreast of the quality of testing performed, accurately interpret and analyze new technologies, and develop sound recommendations

General Duties:
Technical and administrative management and leadership to the Genetics Laboratory.

• In conjunction with the faculty, set goals for the laboratory utilizing Management by Objective (MBO) process. Participate in formulation of division goals and policies, plan strategies to ensure the division is able to meet future demands. Manage change and foster innovations and improvements in laboratory function using technological advances with direct application for laboratory-based diagnoses.
  
  
• Implement strategic initiatives defined in the above process.
  
  
• Participate in the development of novel educational tools/programs for training, maintaining technical competency, and QA/QI.
  
  
• Participate in the development of optimized laboratory utilization algorithms; collaborate with existing clinical research units to support ongoing laboratory projects.
  
  
• Develop and implement departmental and divisional policies and changes in procedure; consult regularly with the laboratory directors. Insure all policies and procedures are clear and understood by faculty and staff.
  
  
• Evaluate and recommend equipment needs; manage the selection of equipment and supplies. Negotiate contract and pricing for equipment, standing orders, and service contracts.
  
  
• Ensure compliance with all federal and state regulations as well as accrediting requirements that impact laboratory operations.
  
  
• Act as liaison for the laboratory with other healthcare personnel.
  
  
• Utilize strong interpersonal skills to resolve service related problems with other divisions or departments.
  
  
• Direct and review quality control standards and programs; monitor proficiency testing, alternative assessment testing, and preventive maintenance program.
  
  
• Manage clinical laboratory rotations for all levels of students and trainees; may prepare and present lecture material to residents, medical laboratory science students, and other medical personnel.
  
  
• Collaborate with other Laboratory Division Supervisors/Managers on joint concerns.
  
  
• Prepare presentations for staff, students, and professional meetings.
  
  
• Assume additional duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Faculty, Department Administrators, or Department Chairperson.
  
  
• Maintain current knowledge of relevant literature and scientific advances to maintain technical and management expertise.
  
  
• Maintain working knowledge of the Laboratory Information System (LIS), bioinformatic pipelines, and laboratory workflow software systems including, but not limited to the supervisory QC and QA functions.

Manage Staffing:

• Maintain a competent technical staff and high-quality laboratory testing and training. Coordinate continuing education and in-service education for staff.
  
  
• Oversee the development of training procedures and checklists to ensure competent technical staff.
  
  
• Interview, hire, orient, and train new employees to maintain a qualified technical staff; maintain documentation of training and required competencies.
  
  
• Delegate responsibilities, duties, and tasks to optimize the use of staff time, skill, and expertise without compromising quality of testing.
  
  
• Assess and adjust laboratory staff, considering workload, staff turnover, and budget; plan staff schedules and rotations; assign staff to work sections; review time records to insure appropriateness of time used; act upon vacation and leave requests.
  
  
• Review and evaluate employee performance; provide fair and immediate feedback on job performance for staff; counsel staff to improve performance as required; recommend disciplinary or remedial action as needed.
  
  
• Ensure staff awareness of compliance and billing issues and follow acceptable laboratory policies.
  
  
• Ensure staff knows the location of safety information, disaster drill procedures, and MSDS manuals, and assess information in response to queries or emergency situations. Ensure MSDS information is current and available.

IT responsibilities:

• Partner with the NGS Analytics and Laboratory Information System team to implement changes and improvements.
  
  
• Ensure automation/liquid handler programming works as intended. Collaborate with the vendor to ensure programs are up-to-date and that downstream programs display data correctly.
  
  
• Use the LIS, laboratory notebook, and laboratory pipeline dashboard to ensure consistency in performance from tech-to-tech.
  
  
• Ensure that downstream computer systems display the report in a user-friendly format.

Requirements:
Bachelor's Degree in Medical Laboratory Science, genetics, genomics, molecular biology, chemistry, biochemistry or related discipline

Equivalent experience may substitute for degree requirement.

Professional Certification of ASCP (American Society of Clinical Pathologist)

Four years of progressively responsible clinical technologist experience; 

Three years in a lead capacity

Desired:
Master’s Degree in Medical Laboratory Science or equivalent field applicable to the Genetics Laboratory

Previous experience working in a diagnostic laboratory desired, with experience reviewing medical literature and pathology reports a plus.  Ability to work independently.  Ability to prioritize and work under tight deadlines.  Excellent verbal and written communication and organizational skills

Ph.D. in genetics, genomics, molecular biology, chemistry, biochemistry or related discipline.  Technical experience with next-generation sequencing, including wet bench procedures, instrumentation, quality assurance, and variant interpretation