UNIV - Open Rank - HLA Fellow - Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Location: Charleston, United States of America

Job Description Summary

MUSC seeks a doctoral-level trainee for a structured HLA Laboratory Director-in-Training Fellowship in the HLA and Tissue Typing Laboratory. The program provides supervised clinical, technical, quality, regulatory, consultative, and leadership experience in histocompatibility and immunogenetics and supports preparation for a future application to the American College of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ACHI) Laboratory Director certification pathway.

The fellow will train in a high-complexity academic laboratory supporting adult and pediatric solid-organ transplantation, hematopoietic cell transplantation, living-donor and paired-exchange programs, and organ-donor services in collaboration with Sharing Hope SC.

Entity

Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC - Univ)

Worker Type

Employee

Worker Sub-Type​

Faculty

Cost Center

CC001006 COM PATH Laboratory Medicine CC

Pay Rate Type

Salary

Pay Grade

University-00

Pay Range

0.00 - 0.00 - 0.000

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Work Shift

Job Description

Position summary

MUSC seeks a doctoral-level trainee for a structured HLA Laboratory Director-in-Training Fellowship in the HLA and Tissue Typing Laboratory. The program provides supervised clinical, technical, quality, regulatory, consultative, and leadership experience in histocompatibility and immunogenetics and supports preparation for a future application to the American College of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ACHI) Laboratory Director certification pathway.

The fellow will train in a high-complexity academic laboratory supporting adult and pediatric solid-organ transplantation, hematopoietic cell transplantation, living-donor and paired-exchange programs, and organ-donor services in collaboration with Sharing Hope SC.

Training and responsibilities

Clinical interpretation. Review HLA typing, antibody identification, donor-specific antibodies, virtual and physical crossmatches, chimerism, and transplant-risk consultations under qualified director supervision.

Methods and informatics. Gain experience with serologic and molecular methods, single-antigen bead assays, flow cytometry, high-resolution typing/NGS, validation, troubleshooting, and reporting.

Quality and compliance. Participate in proficiency testing, competency, document control, occurrence management, and inspection readiness within CLIA/CMS, ASHI, CAP, OPTN/UNOS, NMDP, and FACT-related systems.

Leadership and operations. Develop experience in policy, personnel and workflow management, budgeting, inventory, strategic planning, quality review, and communication with transplant programs.

Education and scholarship. Teach staff and learners and complete a mentored quality-improvement, clinical, informatics, or translational project suitable for presentation or publication.

Call and portfolio. Participate in graduated after-hours consultation and maintain contemporaneous records of competencies, cases, consultations, rotations, evaluations, and supervisory experience.

Qualifications

MD, DO, or earned doctoral degree in a discipline that may satisfy applicable ACHI and CLIA high-complexity laboratory-director educational requirements. Not every doctoral degree qualifies; education and coursework are independently reviewed.

Background in immunology, immunogenetics, histocompatibility, transplantation, pathology, molecular diagnostics, clinical laboratory science, or a closely related field.

Eligibility for MUSC employment and, for physicians, eligibility for SC medical licensure; ability to participate in supervised evening, weekend, and holiday consultation as training progresses.

Preferred: Relevant postdoctoral, fellowship, residency, or clinical laboratory experience; scholarship, quality improvement, teaching, data analysis, or consultation experience; and strong communication and professional judgment.

Why MUSC

The fellow will receive broad exposure to complex transplant immunology, close mentorship from experienced HLA leadership, multidisciplinary collaboration with adult and pediatric transplant programs, and opportunities in innovation, informatics, paired donation, quality improvement, teaching, and clinical research.

Certification notice

The 2026 ACHI handbook describes education, postdoctoral training, and laboratory training and supervisory/directorial experience requirements for U.S. candidates. Applicable training and experience should be accrued within the eight years before application and must be independently documented and verified. Completion of this fellowship does not guarantee examination eligibility or confer ACHI certification, ASHI approval, or CMS/CLIA laboratory-director qualification.

How to apply

Submit a curriculum vitae, a cover letter describing relevant experience and career goals, and contact information for three professional references through the official MUSC recruitment portal.

Additional Job Description

Physical Requirements: (Note: The following descriptions are applicable to this section: Continuous - 6-8 hours per shift; Frequent - 2-6 hours per shift; Infrequent - 0-2 hours per shift) Ability to perform job functions in an upright position. (Continuous) Ability to perform job functions in a seated position. (Infrequent) Ability to perform job functions while walking/mobile. (Frequent) Ability to climb stairs. (Infrequent) Ability to climb ladders. (Infrequent) Ability to work indoors. (Continuous) Ability to work in confined/cramped spaces. (Frequent) Ability to perform job functions from kneeling positions. (Frequent) Ability to bend at the waist. (Frequent) Ability to twist at the waist. (Infrequent) Ability to squat and perform job functions. (Infrequent) Ability to perform 'pinching' operations. (Frequent) Ability to fully use both hands/arms. (Continuous) Ability to perform repetitive motions with hands/wrists/elbows and shoulders. (Frequent) Ability to fully use both legs. (