CHARLOTTE/HOLLY SPRINGS — Lighthouse Lab Services is expanding its footprint.
The Holly Springs-based recruitment firm has finalized its merger with Elite Diagnostics, in partnership with NaviMed Capital, a Washington, DC-based healthcare-focused private equity firm.
Headquartered in Charlotte, Elite Diagnostics is a healthcare consulting and management firm that offers end-to-end technical and business services to clinical laboratories across the country.
Lighthouse is a provider of staffing, recruiting, and consulting services for the laboratory industry.
The merger creates the largest medical laboratory-specific scientific consulting firm in the country, said Lighthouse spokesperson Vasyl Kapitan, with the expanded operation serving more than 300 laboratories across the country.
“We focus on the clinical diagnostic space,” he told WRAL TechWire.
It will be known as Lighthouse Lab Services and Elite Diagnostics with the intention of moving under one brand later in 2020, he added. Lighthouse will remain headquartered in Holly Springs where it currently has three offices. Elite will be moving to a larger space and doubling in size in the next few months.
Since the merger, the company has also grown its headcount by 10 percent, with the intention of adding several more hires by the end of the year.
“We recently made offers to two additional PhDs which will bring the told number of W2 PhDs on staff to seven with 75+ PhDs and MDs working monthly on 1099 contracts.,” said Kapitan.
Elite and Lighthouse will provide advisory and management services to clinical, medical, and industrial laboratories across the country. Service offerings include assisting with licensure and compliance with CLIA, COLA, CAP, and other laboratory quality and accreditation requirements, scientific method development and validation for a variety of applications ranging from toxicology to infectious disease, as well as operational solutions.
The company said there will be a “deep bench” of Ph.D. and masters-level analytical chemists, pharmacologists, toxicologists and laboratory scientists, as well as experienced teams specializing in executive recruiting and staffing and supply chain and logistics management.
“Over the course of its sixteen years of operation, Lighthouse has built a sterling reputation for its unparalleled recruiting and staffing capabilities, respected scientific expertise, and committed client service,” said Mark Roth, founder of Elite Diagnostics, in a statement.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to join forces with Jon Harol and his talented team. Lighthouse has created the world’s largest network for clinical laboratory scientists both online and through its proprietary database of more than 180,000 laboratory professionals’ resumes. With these incredible resources, we are excited to expand our comprehensive solutions for the laboratory industry.”
Roth will serve as the chief executive officer for the combined operation.
Jon Harol, who will serve as President, founded Lighthouse in 2003. “Laboratories of all sizes can benefit from sophisticated guidance that helps them build and grow responsibly and improve their operations,” he said. “The team at Elite has delivered for clients all over the country and has built and managed dozens of successful laboratory projects with an impressive combination of technical know-how, industry expertise, and business acumen. We knew this would be a great combination when we discovered our shared mission of making quality laboratory testing more accessible.”
The companies are now working as a unified team to serve their clients.
