45:9-42.7 Bio-analytical laboratory director.

7. a. Any person possessing the educational and experiential qualifications set forth in federal regulations at 42 C.F.R. Part 493, subpart M, may apply for examination for a plenary license as a bio-analytical laboratory director. The following qualifications as to education and experience are established as prerequisites for application for examination or licensure for a bio-analytical laboratory director's plenary license:

(1) A doctorate degree, plus not less than one year of experience, or

(2) A master's degree, plus not less than two years of experience, or

(3) A bachelor's degree, plus not less than three years of experience.

The above academic degrees shall be course-earned in the fields of chemistry, pharmacy or the biological sciences and awarded by an educational institution approved by the board. "Years of experience," as used in this section, means for plenary license applicants, years of general bio-analytical laboratory experience acceptable to the board.

b. The board shall grant a plenary license to all applicants who meet the qualifications for licensure and satisfactorily complete the examination given by the board , unless exempt from examination by the board for those applicants licensed to practice medicine and surgery who are certified in clinical pathology or anatomic pathology, or who possess qualifications that are equivalent to those required for such certifications.

All examinations shall be written in the English language, but the board, in its discretion, may use supplementary oral and practical examinations of the whole class or of individual applicants. The scope of all examinations shall be such as to determine the competence of the applicant to perform and supervise those tests which are within the scope of the director's plenary license and the clinical laboratory license under the "New Jersey Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act," P.L.1975, c.166 (C.45:9-42.26 et seq.).

c. The board shall grant a specialty license in one or more of the fields of toxicological chemistry, microbiology, cytogenetics, biochemical genetics, diagnostic laboratory immunology and clinical chemistry if the applicant is certified by a national accrediting board, which board requires a doctorate degree plus experience, such as but not limited to the American Board of Pathology, the American Osteopathic Board of Pathology, the American Board of Medical Microbiology, the American Board of Clinical Chemistry, the American Board of Bio-analysis or the American Board of Medical Genetics, or any other national accrediting board recognized by the State Board of Medical Examiners.

The applicant for a specialty license shall offer proof to the satisfaction of the State Board of Medical Examiners of one year's experience in the specialty, which one year's experience shall be within three years next preceding the date of application for the specialty license.

The specialty license shall authorize the licensee to perform and supervise only those tests which are within the scope of the specialty.

L.1953, c.420, s.7; amended 1981, c.314, s.4; 1983, c.457; 1991, c.236; 2016, c.87, s.2.