Off the Bench

This month, hosts Sophia Chandrasekar and Justin Hanenberg talk about microbiology and home brewing with Neva Parker from White Labs, a biotechnology company that provides liquid yeast cultures, analytical services, and consulting for the fermented beverage industry. Neva started at White Labs in 2003 as a lab technician and now serves as Director of Operations.

Host Sophia Chandrasekar talks with Clinical Laboratory Science Student Gabbi Frimpong and Assistant Professor Lisa Cremeans, both at the the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Division of Clinical Laboratory Science, about how COVID has affected the medical laboratory science education system.

Host Galina Dronova sits down with Patrek Lundstrom, Leadership Development Specialist, for a discussion on how to develop your personal leadership philosophy and helpful advice on how to successfully take on leadership roles. Patrek currently works for the U.S. government and has held leadership positions for over 10 years at various organizations. His area of expertise is in emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and leadership theory.

Sit down for an inspiring conversation with Elissa Passiment, EdM, MT(ASCP), about the general history of the medical laboratory science profession, the role of ASCLS in making positive change, and why medical laboratory professionals are so important to quality patient care.

In this Part 2 of First Lab Interviews, Sophia Chandrasekar, Galina Dronova, and Justin Hanenberg give tips and tricks on what to do during and after the interview, with story time—including an actual job interview answer that involves telling a man to take lingerie out of his pants!
Disclaimer: Based off of some feedback from First Lab Interviews - Part 1, while the hosts may have used the terms, tech, lab tech, and med tech, what we meant to say was medical laboratory scientist. Moving forward, we will do our best to use more appropriate language to give recognition to our profession.

In this first of two podcasts, Galina, Justin, and Sophia talk about their first laboratory job interviews. The three hosts discuss some basic interview prep and tips, the need for perseverance through the first several interviews, the importance of trying to find a place that is a good fit for you, and how it all goes back to, "What do you want in your job?"

In this episode Kyle McCafferty, a medical laboratory scientist in Detroit, Michigan, speaks with Dr. Rodney E. Rohde, chair of the Texas State University Clinical Laboratory Science Program and Specialist in Virology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, about COVID-19, specifically monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, and the medical laboratory profession. The episode is available for P.A.C.E.® credit; visit www.ascls.org/offthebench to learn more.

In this episode, Galina Dronova talks with Dr. John McClure, a pathologist in Minneapolis, Minnesota, about Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), the lab testing necessary to identify AML, and where a medical technologist fits in the process.
The episode is available for P.A.C.E.® credit; visit www.ascls.org/offthebench to learn more.

This special minisode of Off the Bench features hosts Sophia Chandrasekar, Galina Dronova, and Justin Hanenberg with ASCLS President Maddie Josephs. They discuss the past "crazy, awesome week for ASCLS" that included three new events: PRISM: Pride · Respect · Inclusion · Support · Momentum; the Emerging Laboratory Managers Collaborative Conference (ELMC2); and a Mid-Year House of Delegates Meeting.

One major driving force to viral spillover from wildlife to humans is human behavior. On this episode Jasmine Pante, MT(ASCP), of Monterey County, California, interviews Dr. Tracey Goldstein, PhD, of One Health Institute Laboratory at University of California-Davis, about emerging zoonotic diseases on a global scale and the One Health approach to prevent future outbreaks.
The episode is available for P.A.C.E.® credit; visit www.ascls.org/offthebench to learn more.