HLA Fellowship

Houston Methodist Hospital, an affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College and Texas A&M Medical College, offers an ACGME-accredited (selective pathology) histocompatibility and transplant immunology (HLA) fellowship training program for physicians who have completed pathology specialty training. This is a two-year program with the required second year completed as a non-ACGME accredited year. The Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine at Houston Methodist also offers two-year HLA fellowship training for qualified PhD allied health professionals. Fellows who successfully complete either HLA fellowship should be eligible to sit for the American Board of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics certification exam.

Located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center, Houston Methodist is a 950-bed private adult, acute care referral, and teaching hospital with nearly 400,000 Emergency Room, Outpatient visits, and Admissions each year. The hospital offers a full range of services from primary to tertiary care, including a multi-organ transplant center, a hematopoietic progenitor cell transplant center, and a cancer center. The teaching faculty in the Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine are internationally renowned with expertise in major subspecialty areas of both anatomic and clinical pathology. The program faculty include two ABHI-certified HLA directors and multiple pathologists with certification in subspecialty areas including molecular genetic pathology, transfusion medicine, and hematopathology.

HLA Fellowship Overview and Objectives
Two two-year fellowship positions are available each academic year under the co-directorship of Todd Eagar, PhD, D(ABHI), and David Bernard, MD, PhD. Houston Methodist's JC Walter Jr. Transplant Center is one of the nation’s largest, performing over 500 solid organ transplants annually, including heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, and multi-organ. Fellows will study proper testing procedures (component collection and processing) of HLA genes, donor screening, methodologies, and clinical correlation of testing. Tests include ABO grouping, HLA typing, antibody screens, antibody specificity identification, and lymphocyte cross-match (compatibility) determination. The program includes rotations in transfusion medicine, hematopathology/flow cytometry, and immunology/serology. 

Training in laboratory management and information systems is included in all rotations of the program. Scholarly activity in the form of a research project to be completed under faculty supervision for publication is a requirement. Fellows are responsible for the HLA case conference and HLA journal club/research conference at Houston Methodist Hospital, and have the opportunity to attend other various pathology conferences throughout the program. Fellows are expected to successfully pass the ABHI board examination for histocompatibility directors after completion of the two-year fellowship program.

Requirements
MD candidates must be board certified or board eligible in Clinical Pathology, Anatomic Pathology or Anatomic/Clinical Pathology. MD candidates must be eligible for a Texas Physician-In-Training permit or hold a full physician Texas licensure. PhD candidates must fulfill the requirements for ASHI director-in-training with a doctoral degree in an immunology-related field, and must have completed at least two years of full-time post-doctoral training.

Stipend
Stipend is commensurate with level of postgraduate training.

Applications
Application deadline is December 31 of the year prior to the intended fellowship year which begins July 1.

Direct application inquiries to:
Todd Eagar, PhD, D(ABHI)
Medical Director, Histocompatibility and Transplant Immunology
  c/o Leah (Ginger) Jozwiak, Fellowship Coordinator
Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine 
Houston Methodist Hospital
6550 Fannin St, SM 383
Houston, TX 77030
Phone: 713.441.3496
Fax: 713.793.1178
E-mail: ljozwiak@houstonmethodist.org