Chief, Microbiology Service, Senior Scientist

  Department of Health and Human Services

National Institutes of Health

NIH Clinical Center

Chief, Microbiology Service, Senior Scientist or Tenure-Eligible Senior Investigator, Department of Laboratory Medicine

The National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center is a 200-bed hospital dedicated to clinical research in which all care is delivered within the context of more than 1600 active clinical research protocols.  The Clinical Center’s mission is scientific discovery including clinical protocols to evaluate rare diseases and clinical trials of novel interventions.  More than 90% of the 750 interventional studies are Phase I or Phase II trials.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) invites candidates with strong leadership credentials and a proven record of interdisciplinary collaborations to apply for the position of Chief, Microbiology Service, Department of Laboratory Medicine at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD. The Clinical Center Department of Laboratory Medicine provides comprehensive and cutting-edge laboratory medicine support for the clinical care of patient-volunteers in the Clinical Center and provides collaborative support for the translational research being conducted by NIH investigators. 

The Clinical Center’s Microbiology Service provides state-of-the-art diagnostic and consultation services, supports the clinical research programs, and conducts research in the field of microbiology. The Service consists of six sections:  Molecular Diagnostics, Genomics, Bacteriology, Mycobacteriology and Mycology, Parasitology, and Specimen Processing. The laboratory has increasingly focused on molecular and Next Generation Sequencing technologies and has been a pioneer in the development of innovative infectious disease diagnostics.  In addition, we have a long-standing American Society for Microbiology CPEP-approved fellowship program in Medical and Public Health Laboratory Microbiology. The Microbiology service currently consists of 42 staff members including the Chief of Microbiology, three senior doctoral level microbiologists, and nine doctoral level scientists and post-doctoral fellows. The microbiology service includes 8,000 sq ft of space within the 50,000 sq ft of the department and includes several MALDI-TOF mass spectrometers for which we have developed optimized procedures and several Illumina and Oxford Nanopore sequencers for ongoing assay development.

The ideal candidate will have a Ph.D. or equivalent medical doctoral degree in relevant biological sciences and have clinical experience supervising a clinical laboratory, including regulatory requirements, managing clinical laboratory operations and budgets, experience with clinical research and clinical research processes. Certification from the American Board of Medical Microbiology is strongly preferred.

A track record of research collaboration is also extremely important. A contemporary independent research program is desirable but not an absolute necessity. The successful applicant will need to demonstrate the willingness to contribute to the success of investigators and clinicians throughout the NIH. Candidates with outstanding research accomplishments may be eligible for tenure, as a Senior Investigator, within the NIH Intramural Research Program. Resources may be available to support an independent research program, commensurate with research accomplishments.

Salary will be commensurate with laboratory experience as well as scientific accomplishments.

A full Civil Service package of benefits (including retirement, health, life and long term care insurance, Thrift Savings Plan, etc.) is available for this position. Candidates for the Supervisory Microbiologist GS-0403-15 position must apply online at www.usajobs.gov between 6/26/2019 and 7/5/2019, job announcement # NIH-CC-DE-19-10499018 & NIH-CC-MP-19-10499693.  Please include in your federal resume a description of your mentoring and outreach activities, especially those involving women and persons from racial/ethnic or other groups that are underrepresented in biomedical research.In addition, please include a cover letter that addresses in 1-2 pages, your vision for the Microbiology Service.  If you have questions about this position, please contact Alex Trader, HR Specialist, NIH at 301-435-4763 or at alex.trader@nih.gov.  This position is subject to background investigation.

The Department of Health and Human Services and NIH are equal opportunity employers committed to equity, diversity and inclusion.