Gary (00:03.022)
Welcome to another podcast of Medical Laboratory Science 2030. My name is Gary Stocker. And as we do on a regular basis, we invite actual medical laboratory scientists to talk about their career journey. Because while many of us, almost all of us, started working in hospital laboratories and other laboratories across the country, the opportunities inside the profession, inside the career are numerous. Joining me today is Laura Sievers from Washington University. Laura, welcome.

Laura Severs (00:33.143)
Thanks, Gary, for having me. Excited to share a little bit about myself and wonderful career in the medical field.

Gary (00:41.902)
Excellent. Just kind of get us started and provide some perspective for our listeners. Tell us about your journey. Give us kind of the highlights of where you are now and what you're doing now.

Laura Severs (00:51.831)
Well, currently I am the Director of Clinical Operations here at Washington University School of Medicine in their Department of Pathology and Immunology. Essentially, I oversee nine clinical service areas, including laboratories, and dabble a little bit in some education. And I'm really just here in the leadership capacity.

Gary (01:19.534)
And you're active in promoting medical laboratory science as a career. Talk a little bit about that.

Laura Severs (01:25.655)
Yeah, I am a career ambassador for the American Society of Clinical Pathology. I'll use the acronym ASCP here on out. Essentially, it's a grassroots effort by ASCP to have their members go out into their respective communities and share with local organizations, schools, et cetera, about the different careers in laboratory medicine. There's a lot of freedom in

how you do that for me personally. I did a lot of connecting with the local high schools and doing some career fairs. And then as I got more integrated into the community, started working with our local children's museums and doing some speaking engagements at social events and churches and things like that. And so really just putting...

medical laboratory careers at the forefront of thinking when folks are looking for career prospects as they get older.

Gary (02:32.75)
and step us through some of the clinical jobs you've had in the past decade or so.

Laura Severs (02:38.679)
So I am a medical laboratory scientist by trade. I went and got my bachelor's at Illinois State University in medical laboratory science. And for about 10 years worked in a hospital laboratory at a mid -sized medical center in central Illinois. I was a generalist for a long time on their second shift. And then through various...

projects ended up in a leadership role and I was the head of their transfusion service line and hematology section in their laboratory and then also was their point of care testing coordinator for the hospital and after that I came here to Wash U and was a hematopathology scientist for a bit and then transitioned into the leadership role I had.

Gary (03:34.638)
So think back to a long time ago, and you were thinking about career options you had when you were younger. I'll go with that route. Can we recall what it was that really led you to make that medical laboratory science career decision?

Laura Severs (03:50.167)
Yeah, I went to a small high school, very modest in my education comparatively. I took all the general education courses, spent my junior and senior year in advanced placement, biology and chemistry courses, had a pretty good mix of social, volunteer and athletic interests that kept me busy. And I really had to think about

my career, really that was my parents that were super interested in me finding a pathway that led to a career rather than an art history degree. I think they kind of thought like do something applied that is meaningful. And I really wanted to use my love of science and my curiosity for the world around me to do good in my community.

And I ended up having a really amazing guidance counselor who suggested a career in a medical laboratory. And that's really all the information I got. And thankfully Google was there for me. And I did a few internet searches, found a few universities in the area that my parents took me to so I could get a little bit more information. And as soon as I met with the folks at Illinois State, I knew it was it. This is what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Gary (05:19.182)
Very, very cool. So listeners to the podcast and who go to the website and look at other social media posts that I do associated with medical laboratory science, they're aware that there's an internship. You should do about 90 college credits at the college of your choice that has the medical laboratory science as a degree option. Tell us a little bit about your laboratory internship. Was it scary? Did you learn a lot? Kind of give us your perspective on that part of the training.

Laura Severs (05:48.023)
Yeah, so programs now are very diverse in how they approach the professional practice setting. I went through a very traditional route, and so I spent one whole semester, 40 hours a week, in a hospital laboratory rotating through the different sections. I had time in microbiology, time in blood bank, the time in chemistry. And at first, I was...

really nervous about showing up and not being able to answer the questions that the preceptors would ask, right? And what I ended up finding out that the professional practice was not so much about how much book knowledge you have, but can you take what you've learned in your previous semesters and apply it in a real world setting? And...

While I learned things, most of that was soft skills, professional skills, and how to actually apply the words in the textbook to actual patient care.

Gary (07:01.486)
Thinking back even to the, we'll focus on the science courses, the science courses that you took at Illinois State where you went for your bachelor's degree, were they hard? Were they challenging? How would you characterize those science courses and did they prepare you for your career?

Laura Severs (07:18.827)
As far as basic science goes, it was the foundation by which the rest of my career was built on. And without organic chemistry, biology, I wouldn't have been able to advance in clinical chemistry or hematology. So each one of these courses had their own unique challenges, but I was incredibly motivated to learn the material and I thought it was incredible.

Very interesting. You know, it's been 15 years since I've been in school, so my memory may just have this really beautiful lens cast on it, but I remember facing challenges, but none that made me ever question what I was doing.

Gary (08:06.542)
Interesting. And you've been in a laboratory. You talked about about 10 years or so in medical laboratories. Think back. Again, think about the audience that we have, folks considering growing up to be medical laboratory science, considering a career as a medical laboratory scientist. Tell us about a neat moment, a particularly interesting case, particularly traumatic case that really sticks with you over the years you were actually on the bench in a clinical laboratory.

Laura Severs (08:36.055)
So I have received this question quite a bit, and I've often talked about some of the more traumatic cases or some of the high risk, high reward situations I've been at. And some of our most memorable moments in our careers are, unfortunately, some of our patients most vulnerable. And instead of...

leading with sort of a heart -wrenching traumatic story, because believe me, I have plenty of those in the 15 years I've been in this field. I think one of the best moments of my career was the first patient that I was able to sit with at bedside and do counseling with. So this particular patient had been battling cancer for many years, was a respected member of our community. And at the time, I was the manager of

transfusion services. And we had noticed that they were rejecting platelets and what we categorize as platelet refractor -ness. They had started developing a lot of antibodies towards HLA antigens that are on the surface of your platelets. And so this was causing a lot of difficulty in maintaining a high platelet count that the patient wouldn't just start to spontaneously bleed.

And with that came a lot of fear and questions because now we were flying platelets in from all over the country for this patient. Had to change the way they scheduled their exams, had to change the way that they scheduled their infusions. And so alongside the oncologist, I was able to sit with the patient at bedside. We came, I drew graphics, we talked about the anatomy of a platelet, what they do in your body and really sort of brought comfort.

when there was a lot of unknown, and I thought that was incredibly rewarding. Because we don't often think of medical laboratory scientists as being in the forefront, and most of the time we're not. But we have these key opportunities to show our value in the patient care arena, and the fact that we are responsible for care of patients. It may not be in the traditional sense of bandaging a wound,

Laura Severs (11:03.223)
doing sutures, placing an NG tube, but we provide the diagnostic material and the diagnostic results that these patients so desperately need.

Gary (11:13.358)
I don't know, Laura, I think that story was heart rending in itself. I've not heard it explained that way before. That's a fascinating story. And let's kind of tie it in. I always ask the best and worst question of anything that I talk about. But thinking back, what's the best part from your experience in working in a clinical laboratory and a hospital laboratory over the years?

Laura Severs (11:38.039)
So the best part for me was the, gosh, they're gonna be one and the same. The best and worst part about working in this field is the impact you have on patients' lives. So I only have a handful of moments where I've gotten to interact with patients, and most medical laboratory scientists don't. And truthfully, for me, that was a positive. I...

was afraid if I went into any other field that I might become too emotionally involved or attached or I would feel too much of something for these patients. And so I was able to use this as a means to sort of be engaged as much as I could handle. But while I love being a part of the patient care team, it has on some of the hardest days been the motivator to get me to go in for my next shift.

It's also one of the hardest things because we are the first ones that see that diagnosis, right? When a patient is coming in with some nondescript symptoms and they have their blood drawn, we can generally see if you have AML, say it's a new diagnosis. I hold that piece of information for probably 30 minutes until the physician is able to get it. And so,

That's a heavy burden if you really think about it, being the one that sees it and is able to respond to it at the very beginning, knowing that this person's life is going to be changed forever.

Gary (13:19.246)
So I have just a couple more questions to wrap up our interview. And again, thanks for making time today. And we're going to make you a career guidance counselor here for a minute. And the first question I have, and some of the audience I know are college students and college faculty, and they're listening to this because they want perspective on the medical laboratory science career. If someone currently has, or will shortly or maybe this spring, a Bachelor of Science in Biology or Chemistry.

In your mind, is the medical laboratory a good fit for those type of college students?

Laura Severs (13:54.423)
I love this question, Gary. So having a degree or an aptitude in science doesn't necessarily mean you're going to enjoy working in the.

I think it serves as a strong backbone for starting your career in this field. But when you are considering a career move, I think you need to really think about what it is that motivates you, what brings value to your life, and what you want to get out of your career. Because being in health care and in the medical laboratory, it's a service -based career. Just because a person excels in science doesn't mean that they are

equipped to be in a service related field. And I think a lot of people overlook that because we are not patient forward, but we are providing a service. Hospitals don't close. Patients are always sick. There are some days where I give more of myself to this career than I do some of my family, some of my friends, but I...

went into this knowing that I valued that, that I valued my community members enough to do that on occasion.

Laura Severs (15:15.863)
And I also think that when we use the term careers in medical laboratory, it is a sort of blanket statement, but there are so many options for people who want to work in this particular field. Whether you want to be a categorical scientist that does research or works in a specific area of the laboratory, whether you want to go on to medical school and be a pathologist.

You want to get your masters and be a pathologist assistant whether you want to go into leadership or or education there are so many options that we get stuck thinking that hospital base is is really the foundation and and for a lot of people that that's true a lot of us will start and end our career in a hospital setting but it is so much more

Gary (16:10.766)
And really, some fascinating, Laura, some fascinating responses. You have clearly thought this stuff through. And my last question was very similar. I think you've already answered it. And I'll share the question, but I'm going to kind of twist it a little bit. And my question was, if you had to give one piece of advice to someone considering a career, you would kind of say the same thing. And really, you made a good point on the previous response. Even though it's science -based, even though we're looking at body fluids,

You're making the point that really you want to consider this as a service career as much as a science career. Is that a fair summary?

Laura Severs (16:46.871)
Yes, wholeheartedly.

Gary (16:49.166)
Oh, how did I? Interesting, interesting. Well, Laura, again, I'm grateful for your time today. Our guest has been Laura Stevers from Washington University here in St. Louis. She's the director of clinical operations there with substantial, not just substantial experience in medical laboratory science, but some fascinating career perspectives and guidance as well. So until next time, when we get together with medical laboratory science for the year 2030, my name is Gary Stocker. We'll talk next time.