Avero's Growth Fuels Need for Expansion
Press Release: Sunday, Septemer 28, 2008
Lubbock Centennial
By Chris Van Wagenen / A-J business Editor
Dr. Trae Mattison had a decision to make. "I was living in North Carolina, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the rest of my life there," the Lubbock pathologist said. In the end, Mattison was joined by a family of pathologists and regarded professionals in the creation of a new business venture that brought with it a surprising upside of explosive growth.
Later this week, Mattison Pathology will change its name to Avero Diagnostics as the company prepares to make its move out of the city's bustling medical district into a shiny glass building under construction west of NorthStar Surgical Center off N. Loop 289. Mattison, who convinced his father, Dr. Thomas Mattison, to come out of retirement, said the four-year-old company didn't wane from the day it opened, when the company accepted two pap smears and a biopsy for a diagnosis.
Today, hundreds of such tests are being conducted across Lubbock and other parts of the country. Mattison said most people don't understand just what pathologists, in particular anatomic pathologists, do - the behind-the-scenes profession involves microscopic examination and diagnosis of organs, tissues and cells. "We're the guys in the middle who perform a pretty important service where a cancer diagnosis is involved. When most people think about pathologists, the first thing that comes to mind is autopsies at a hospital or what they see on CSI," he said. But since its formation in January 2004, Mattison Pathology has barely been able to keep up with the work - growing from two workers to 30 last year and now up to 75.
The result is that Mattison, now to be called Avero, has had to up the ante to meet customer demand. Employees have overrun a 2,500-square-foot lab in the heart of the medical district at 3802 22nd Place. In January, the company will move into a new 10,000-square-foot foot lab at 410 N. Utica Ave. that will also serve as it regional headquarters for Lubbock and another lab it opened a year ago in Dallas. The laboratory is a welcome addition to what's been referred to as the NorthStar campus, whose occupants include the surgical center, Cardiologists of Lubbock and the Lubbock Heart Hospital. according to Randy Egenbacher, principal, Egenbacher Real Estate.
"(Avero) is just the type of business NorthStar (partners) has pursued in the planning of this campus," he said. Kally Arrington, vice president of commercial lending for American Bank of Commerce, which provided the $3.5 million in interim capital for the project, said Avero's growth is real. "They're busting out at the seams over there (in their existing building). They're not just a Lubbock business. They do business all over. This is just the tip of the iceberg for them," Arrington said. Part of that has to do with the company's Dallas lab, Mosaic, which will also be called Avero come Wednesday. The lab was opened as a collaborative effort between the Mattisons and Vanderbilt University professor Dr. Scott Shappell, a recognized expert in prostate cancer who Trae and his brother, Dr. Tanner Mattison, studied under as part of a fellowship. The brother is now part of the Dallas operation.
"I guess we're not too original," Trae joked, alluding to the family's choice of career paths. Mattison said Avero's customers run the gamut from doctors to hospitals, such as NorthStar and Grace Clinic, to regional and national clients that stretch from eastern New Mexico to Chicago.
David Harmon, CEO for American Bank of Commerce, said he's not surprised how successful the company has been, given the Mattison name. "They're a third generation of doctors - people of great character that provide a service that's needed by (other) doctors," he said, referring to the fact that Mattison's great-grandfather was an internist. "They're the kind of business that doesn't make a lot of noise, but people around here know who they are." For years, Trae's father, Dr. Thomas Mattison worked as chief of pathology at the former St. Mary Hospital and later at Methodist Hospital before retiring. But 18 months ago, it became clear that the Mattisons needed to make a move and quick. Trae Mattison said the company intended to stay in the medical district but was unable to acquire the space it needed.
"I'm not sure we would have needed to do this had we not opened (a lab) in Dallas, but we have to now. We've hired brand new people here and in Dallas, and we've been adding them about every month since," he said.
Download (226.46 KB JPG)
