Shining a Light on Hidden Bioscience Professions

08/26/22 • 31 min

In Part 2 of this conversation between Mauricio Tellez and Dr. Rodney Rohde, we explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the Clinical Laboratory Science field. Dr. Rohde explains the double-edged sword of the pandemic shining a light on the profession and increasing the general public’s awareness of it, while also adding a lot of stress and burnout due to the increased need for CLS professionals.

Dr. Rohde and Mauricio express the need for more folks to take the CLS career path, whether they are working in a hospital setting or pursuing a research-oriented role, and explain the job opportunities that exist for those who work in CLS and want to continue to grow and learn beyond an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree and CLS Credential.

Mauricio demystifies the CLS program and shares stories about how his unique skills and personality traits as an individual combine with his passion for science to make him perfect for his job. He gets into the nitty-gritty of his day-to-day on the job, explaining how his time as an intern at ABI helped to set him up for success in the CLS Program and his current job. Part of this included exposure to instruments and processes, but part of this was also about how he was able to understand laboratory concepts such as quality control that can only be learned through hands-on activities like those that he was able to do at ABI.

Today Mauricio is a Clinical Laboratory Scientist in a medical setting, helping to identify if patients may have leukemia lymphoma, monitoring HIV in patients, and helping to detect mutations in patients’ hemoglobin. These kinds of detailed laboratory results and analyses help to determine critical components of the patients’ care, and 70% of medical decisions are made off of lab tests like the ones that Mauricio runs and interprets.

Mauricio and Dr. Rohde close out the conversation by explaining the job outlook for CLS professionals and encouraging students who are interested in science and want to help others, but maybe don’t feel thrilled about sitting at the bedside of ill patients, to explore the career option. They share their advice for students who are interested in science, and advice for mentors of students who are starting to consider their future career plans.

Learn more about TX State’s CLS Program.

Learn more about Dr. Rohde.

Learn more about ACC Bioscience Incubator.

This is a founding_media podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about TX State’s CLS Program.

Learn more about Dr. Rohde.

Learn more about ACC Bioscience Incubator.

This is a founding_media podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Bioscience Careers Galore!

In this episode of “Science in the Mall, Y’all,” we welcome back previous ACC Bioscience Incubator intern Mauricio Tellez, who is joined by Dr. Rodney Rohde. Dr. Rohde and Mauricio met through the Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) Program at Texas State University, which Mauricio graduated from in 2021. In addition to being the CLS Program Director and a professor at TX State, Dr. Rohde is also an adjunct at Austin Community College, and has an illustrious career as an infectious disease expert and microbiologist rooted in public health.

Mauricio and Dr. Rohde kick off the conversation by explaining the various connections between ACC, the ACC Bioscience Incubator, TX State, and the CLS Program. Mauricio shares how he leveraged his experiences at ABI once he had transferred to TX State, explaining how his time as an intern gave him laboratory experience that helped him earn entry into the competitive CLS Program.

They get into the importance of viewing education as a means to creating a career path, and talk about how ACC and TX State focus on building people into professionals instead of simply treating them as students. Mauricio and Dr. Rohde talk with Nancy and Dan about how undergraduates interested in science can turn that passion into a profitable, meaningful career, and how using resources like ACC and ABI can help you clarify your goals and save money in the process.

They explain what CLS is and the job opportunities that abound there, even though these roles in the medical and healthcare fields are relatively “invisible” or hidden careers. Medical or clinical laboratory scientists read between the lines of patient care and laboratory medical data to help physicians and healthcare teams make good decisions and avoid critical mistakes - sometimes making the difference between life and death for patients.

Mauricio shares the job outlook and security in the field and how he was able to be guaranteed a job immediately after graduating. They explain it’s an ideal career path for people who want to make a difference but don’t want to be at the bedside the same way that nurses and doctors are.

Stay tuned for part two of this discussion to learn about CLS job opportunities and experiences!

Learn more about Texas State University's CLS Program.

Learn more about Dr. Rohde.

Learn more about ACC Bioscience Incubator.

This is a founding_media podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Attitude is Everything

Marcia McCallum is back for another episode of “Science in the Mall, Y’all”, but this time she is joined by her supervisor David Medina. David is the Upstream Processing Manager at XBiotech, and Marcia works under him in Upstream Processing. XBiotech manufactures and develops medication from human monoclonal antibodies – and Marcia and David kick off their episode by explaining what that actually means. They talk about what the “upstream” side of the operations entails, from development to cultivating and mass producing cell culture with the antibody cells before it can go to “downstream” for purification and synthesis. They share the dynamic in their lab and what a day-in-the-life is like for Upstream Processing teams at XBiotech as they work with each other and the cell cultures. They even have some funny stories to tell about epic fails they turned into wins.

As a hiring manager, David talks about the kinds of attributes he looks for when he’s recruiting. While skills and knowledge are important, a good attitude, work ethic, and eagerness to learn are the most important things that David looks for when he’s interviewing prospective candidates. David and Marcia discuss their unconventional educational backgrounds and how they combined those things with their hobbies, attitudes, and humility to secure their positions at XBiotech and thrive in their fields. Their inspiring journeys reveal how the right mindset and drive is essential to success, and David and Marcia give us an honest insight into the interview process and the hiring process, from the perspective of being hired and being the person doing the hiring. Marcia and David’s experiences and stories show that you can have a successful career in bioscience regardless of the degree that you hold provided you possess the work ethic, drive, and passion for the work. They talk about how they learn everyday in their job even though they are not in an explicitly academic setting, what students can do to augment their educational experiences to get hands-on skills, and why each employees’ character traits are crucial to a successful lab team. This episode is full of interesting anecdotes and great advice for anyone considering pursuing a career in the biosciences.

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