Assistant/Associate Professor, Clinician-Educator, Laboratory Animal Medicine; Associate Director, Diagnostic Services and Rodent Quality Assurance, University Laboratory Animal Resources (ULAR)

Location:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Open Date:
Jan 13, 2021
Description:

This position ensures the health and freedom from subclinical infectious diseases of a daily census of more than 120,000 mice and 1,000 rats housed in approximately 500 housing rooms on the Philadelphia campus of the University of Pennsylvania.  Healthy rodents free of subclinical diseases are needed by scientists utilizing rodents based in 6 Schools at Penn.  Rodents are housed in 16 vivaria plus 30 IACUC-approved Satellite Housing locations across the Philadelphia campus, and small numbers may also be housed at the New Bolton Center campus.  Each area housing research rodents includes rodent sentinel animals which receive soiled bedding and are tested 4 times per year for exposure to rodent viral, bacterial and parasitic agents which can alter research results. The ULAR Diagnostic Serology Laboratory, which will be supervised by the successful candidate, currently tests serum by ELISA and confirms positive tests utilizing IFA on three of the four times per year that each sentinel is tested.  In calendar year 2019 (pre-COVID), the laboratory ran 14,470 serologic tests.  Once per year, live animals are sent to a commercial laboratory for more extensive testing.  As leader of Diagnostic Services, the successful applicant will interpret all results and determine what additional actions are needed, potentially including eradicating outbreaks of excluded rodent infectious diseases in animals on campus. In this role, s/he will supervise and be assisted by an Assistant Director who is an ACLAM-boarded veterinarian. Additional Diagnostic Services faculty and staff (nine persons) include a veterinary pathologist, a diagnostic laboratory staff person and staff that provide sentinel placement, bleeding, necropsy, and testing.  Under the direction of the successful applicant, Diagnostic Services staff will approve rodent vendor sources, co-ordinate rodent importation from other institutions, oversee rodent quarantine (including husbandry), and exportation of rodents from Penn to other institutions. The successful candidate will also review selected rodent-based IACUC protocols for biosecurity concerns, including appropriate housing and trafficking of rodents on the Philadelphia campus. As a Clinician Educator, the successful candidate will be expected to participate and publish in collaborative or self-initiated research projects deriving from clinical or experimental work and to develop a clear area of individual emphasis and expertise within this research. Opportunities for research of this type are manifold at the University of Pennsylvania. Faculty on the Clinician Educator track are expected to obtain extramural funding to cover costs of their self-initiated research. This funding may be from federal grants or from smaller grants from non-federal sources on which the faculty member is a named principal investigator or co-investigator. The successful candidate will also take an active role in teaching the specialty of laboratory animal medicine to six Residents in the Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine via didactic lectures and participatory 2-month rotations. 

Additional information about the Pathobiology Department may be found at https://www.vet.upenn.edu/research/academic-departments/pathobiology

Qualifications:

Applicants should have a PhD in microbiology, molecular microbiology or a related field and at least two years’ experience post-completion of the PhD as the leader or team member of a group ensuring the health quality of research rodents.  Applications from veterinarians (VMD/DVM) with substantial experience in rodent quality assurance will also be considered. For all applicants, post-training experience in an academic environment is preferred.

Application Instructions:

The search committee will begin considering applications immediately.  The anticipated start date is as soon as possible.