SENIOR CONSULTANT CLINICAL VIROLOGIST

Ws Virology; Muscat; On-site; OMR 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH) in Muscat, Oman, invites applications for a Senior Consultant Clinical Virologist to lead virology services, guide diagnosis and treatment of viral infections, and drive infection control and research initiatives.

The post includes teaching medical and health science students, supervising staff, and contributing to CPD and national public health programs. On‑call duties apply to this senior role.

Qualifications

• Board-certified physician (FRCPath, FRCPC, FRCPA or equivalent).
• Registered with a recognized Health Council.
• Minimum 3 years of consultant-level experience.
• 2–5 peer-reviewed publications, 1–3 in consulting period.
• Teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students/residents.
• Successful OMSB Dataflow application.
• Successful personal assessment interview.

Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee hospital clinical virology services with high-quality diagnostics.
• Provide specialist clinical advice on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of viral infections.
• Collaborate with infection prevention and control for outbreak management and surveillance.
• Supervise, mentor, and train junior staff and laboratory personnel.
• Contribute to multidisciplinary meetings and case discussions.
• Develop and implement clinical guidelines and protocols.
• Engage in audits, quality improvement, and accreditation activities.
• Lead and participate in research projects in virology.
• Participate in CPD and stay updated on emerging pathogens and therapies.
• Liaise with public health authorities for notifiable diseases and epidemic preparedness.
• Full-time with on-call during weekdays, weekends, and public holidays.

Skills

Board certification

Health Council registration

Consultant experience

Publications

Teaching

Dataflow OMSB

Interview process

Job description

CANDIDATE SPECIFICATION

The post is open to medical doctors who have completed full clinical training in Clinical Virology or Microbiology with experience in clinical virology.

• Hold a recognized board certification such as FRCPath, FRCPC, FRCPA, or an equivalent qualification.
• Candidate is registered with a recognized Health Council.
• Candidate has at least 3 years’ experience of work as a consultant.
• Record of training and/or academic achievement, relevant scientific publications (provide 2-5 published scientific papers, of which 1-3 should be research papers published during the period of holding a consultant position, and they must be published in peer-reviewed medical journals).
• Contributes to teaching under and postgraduate students/residents.
• Successful application of dataflow in the Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB).
• Successful completion of the personal assessment interview.

https://dataflowgroup.com/organization/oman-medical-specialty-board/

DETAILS OF THE POST

The Senior Consultant Clinical Virologist will provide expert leadership in the diagnosis, management, and prevention of viral infections. The role involves overseeing virology laboratory services, advising clinical teams, contributing to infection prevention and control, and supporting research and teaching activities.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee the hospital’s clinical virology services, ensuring high-quality diagnostic testing and timely reporting.
• Provide specialist clinical advice to the medical teams on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of viral infections.
• Work closely with infection prevention and control teams to develop strategies for outbreak management and hospital infection surveillance.
• Supervise, mentor, and train junior medical staff, scientists, and laboratory personnel.
• Contribute to multidisciplinary team meetings and case discussions where virology expertise is required.
• Develop, review, and implement clinical guidelines and protocols in line with international best practice.
• Engage in audit, quality improvement projects, and accreditation processes to maintain laboratory standards.
• Support and lead research projects in virology.
• Participate in continuing professional development and maintain up-to-date knowledge of emerging viral pathogens, diagnostics, and therapies.
• Liaise with public health authorities in the management of notifiable viral diseases and contribute to preparedness for epidemic/pandemic response.
• Full-time position with on‑call provision during the week, weekends, and public holidays.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR ON-CALL WORK

The post‑holder will participate in the laboratory’s on‑call service, which supports urgent diagnostic requests outside of routine daytime hours. Weekend and public holiday coverage will be provided according to the on‑call roster. During on‑call periods, the virologist will be responsible for communicating urgent results to clinical teams, supervising testing activities, and authorizing results performed during this period.

CLINICAL GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS

Participation in clinical audits, quality improvement activities and continuing professional development is obligatory.

TEACHING

SQUH is a teaching hospital, and the senior consultant will be expected to participate in teaching of medical, nursing and health science students.

In addition, the Microbiology and Immunology lab is a training center for Medical Microbiology specialty board program for medical microbiologists. If applicable, this might involve training the medical microbiology residents as part of Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB) training program. The teaching duties will be determined by the department administration.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

The senior consultant will be expected to participate in research.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

The senior consultant will be expected to participate in public engagement activities if required by the SQUH administration.

BIANNUAL APPRAISAL

Biannual appraisal is being done through Ejada by the Head of Department and submitted to the hospital administration.

THE EMPLOYING ORGANIZATION

• Population Served Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH) is a tertiary teaching hospital which is part of the University Medical City (UMC). This is located in the capital of Oman, Muscat. The hospital serves patients from all over the country. These patients would be referred from regional secondary or tertiary hospitals for further evaluation and management.
• Management Structure SQUH is part of the UMC along with two other institutions: Oman National Centre for Hematology and Marrow Transplantation, and Sultan Qaboos Comprehensive Cancer Care and Research Centre. SQUH is an acute care tertiary hospital, which provides care for a broad range of patients across the Sultanate and acts as a referral centre for different specialties. Examples of specialty services provided include medicine (with several specialties), bone marrow transplant, hemato‑oncology, surgery (e.g., orthopedics, neurosurgery, maxillofacial surgery, cardiothoracic surgery), Obstetrics and Gynecology, Child Health, and Intensive Care (NICU, PICU and Adult ICU). Technical departments include Microbiology and Immunology, Biochemistry, Pathology, Genetics, Radiology, and Physiology.
• Accreditation Status SQUH has the Platinum level by the Accreditation Canada organization (ACI).

THE SQUH MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY LABORATORY

SQUH Microbiology & Immunology laboratory is a diagnostic laboratory that serves both SQUH and Oman National Centre for Hematology and Marrow Transplantation. Occasionally the lab receives samples from other hospitals. The services provided by the lab in relation to virology include serology screening (blood borne viruses, blood donors, antenatal screen, immune status testing, other viral serology) and molecular tests (real time PCR for respiratory viruses, central nervous system and gastrointestinal viral infections, viruses in immunocompromised patients, other viruses). A total of 252,433 tests (115150 molecular/137283 serology tests) were carried out in the laboratory during 2024.

LABORATORY FACILITIES

All tests are received electronically, and results are registered in the hospital information system.

Instruments available in the virology section include:

• Automated and semiautomated immunoassays platforms
• Total nucleic acid extractor systems
• Real time PCR analyzers
• Fully automated molecular diagnostic platform (for CMV and blood borne viruses quantitative testing)
• Blood donor screening (serology and nucleic acid testing (NAT))
• GeneXpert system for molecular diagnosis of Influenza viruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), SARS-CoV-2, and HIV (urgent cases).