The greatest diagnostic product in the world wouldn’t mean much if it couldn’t get through the rigorous vetting process of a regulatory agency. Lyndon White, Senior Regulatory Affairs Associate, is one of the people responsible for ensuring that Luminex products can clear regulatory hurdles in markets all over the world. He’s been with the company since 2010 and earned his bachelor’s degree in clinical laboratory science from Texas State University and his master’s in bioscience regulatory affairs from Johns Hopkins University.
Q: What are your responsibilities at Luminex?
A: My group handles international registrations and maintenance of our products across the globe, so we’re responsible for jumping through government hoops to make sure regulatory agencies have all the information they need to know that our products are safe and effective for their markets. I also do some supply chain work to ensure that our products don’t include any metals or materials that are considered hazardous or illegal by certain governments. And I work with our support group to go over customer complaints, keeping an eye out for anything that might warrant a recall. My job involves lots of paperwork!
Q: What did you do before this job?
A: I’ve had two different career tracks. Most recently, I was a medical laboratory scientist in local hospitals here in Austin, handling clinical microbiology and hematology tests, and reporting results out to physicians. Before that, I was a consultant and salesperson for a private security company that did a lot of military and contractor work. We put cameras on the Titanic, the International Space Station, and the Predator drone. It was fascinating!
Q: What inspired the big career shift?
A: I was a late bloomer. I supported my wife while she was in college, so that’s when I had the sales job with the security firm. Then when she graduated, I went to college and got into medical science.
Q: What drew you to Luminex?
A: I’ve always had a knack for genetics. Between that and my familiarity with many of the same types of clinical lab tests that Luminex offers, it was a great fit. For me, the company and culture just made sense.
Q: If you could solve any clinical or genetic challenge, what would it be?
A: Antibiotic resistance, in a heartbeat. It’s a huge problem for hospital-acquired infections, and it’s just getting worse. These are nasty little critters, and the fact that they’re getting stronger against our only defenses is terrifying.
Q: If you weren’t in regulatory affairs at Luminex, where would you be?
A: Like virtually every child of the ’80s, I wanted to be out on the ocean. I actually did tropical studies in Jamaica in my late teenage years with the idea of becoming an oceanographer. But it turns out that the job doesn’t pay much, so it’s hard to support a family. The fantasy just didn’t pan out.
Q: What is something about you that no one at Luminex knows?
A: Most people don’t know that I’m a bit of a street artist. I’ve been known to tag bridges and paint murals. One of my pieces is actually hanging in a Luminex building. It’s a love of mine that started in college when I wrote a paper about graffiti art.
Q: What is your favorite thing to do in Austin on the weekend?
A: I’m a big advocate for local music and all the different festivals. You can find me at Empire, Barracuda, Blues on the Green, and South by Southwest. I volunteer at a lot of these events too.
