Sr Clinical Veterinarian

At Houston Methodist, the Sr Clinical Veterinarian position is responsible for advancing excellence in veterinary care by providing diagnostic and clinical veterinary care for laboratory animals maintained in support of the Houston Methodist (HM) research program. This position is a key position with the Comparative Medicine Program providing detailed regulatory oversight to ensure compliance with all federal regulations and guidelines pertaining to the use of laboratory animals, including the FDA Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations.

In this capacity, the Sr Clinical veterinarian position leads research protocol creation, IACUC protocol review and facilitates work on research protocols to ensure the humane treatment of animals. This position actively participates on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, either as a voting or alternate veterinarian and serves as the liaison between CMP and the Office of Research Protection.

FLSA Status
Exempt

• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from an accredited school of veterinary medicine

• Eight years of experience in the field of Laboratory Animal Medicine

Required

• DVM
  - Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
  - State Licensure
  - Texas Department of Licensing and  within 1 year
• ACLAM
  - Certified American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) - American College of Laboratory Animal

• Demonstrates the skills and competencies necessary to safely perform the assigned job, determined through on‑going skills, competency assessments, and performance evaluations
• Sufficient proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing the English language necessary to perform the essential functions of this job, especially with regard to activities impacting patient or employee safety or security
• Ability to effectively communicate with patients, physicians, family members and co‑workers in a manner consistent with a customer service focus and application of positive language principles
• People management abilities
• Expertise in laboratory animal medicine and veterinary medical knowledge
• Ability to serve in a leadership role
• Expert knowledge of laws, policies, and regulations governing the use of animals in research
• Excellent communication skills
• Strong organizational and problem‑solving skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Demonstrates adaptability and flexibility in the face of changing demands

• Oversees training of principle investigators, graduate students and technicians in the humane care and use of laboratory animals. Provides detailed oversight and guidance to the technical veterinary personnel and animal care staff.
• Exercises strong leadership skills to foster a team environment that demonstrates respect for every member of the department and promotes employee engagement and retention.
• Drives initiatives towards improvement of department scores for employee engagement, i.e. peer‑to‑peer accountability.

• Establishes and implements a comprehensive clinical program for all animals used in research and teaching, including sentinel and quarantine programs, vendor screening, oversight of animal import and export, and diagnostics.
• Actively manages special services offered by the department such as surgical service, rederivation, biosecurity and post‑approval monitoring as assigned to ensure a high level of quality and and an investigator (customer) service focus.
• Actively participates on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, either as a voting or alternate veterinarian. Serves as the liaison between CMP and the Office of Research Protection.

• Oversees the preventive medicine and enrichment programs for animals used in research and teaching.
• Performs veterinary pre‑review of animal use protocols to ensure compliance with high quality animal care and animal welfare regulations and provides assistance to investigators with protocol development.
• Oversees documentation, SOP and policy development, record review, and QC monitoring of research projects within the animal facilities to ensure adherence to federal regulations…