With a career in the medical laboratory, you make the choices. Once you complete your education and the certification exam, your opportunities are limited only by your imagination. Whichever career you pursue as a laboratory professional, you can do many different things with your training.

The Bench
Laboratory professionals who choose to work at “the bench” (the central workstation and testing area in a laboratory) experience the “hands-on” technical work that is performed on a daily basis. Monitoring of quality control programs in the laboratory is an important part of this job. Because today’s laboratories are highly computerized, the laboratory professional who chooses to do testing must be a trouble-shooter who knows how each piece of equipment works and how to fix it if it’s not working properly. These laboratory professionals can also work in the research and development department of a chemical or pharmaceutical company, helping to develop new and improved products for the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

The Supervisor
Laboratory professionals who have gained experience at the bench and produce superior-quality work can be promoted to the supervisory level. As a supervisor of one or several laboratory departments, the individual is responsible for making sure the laboratory work assignments are completed. Arranging work schedules and managing personnel are important aspects of this job. The supervisor usually reports to the laboratory manager.

The Laboratory Manager
A technologist with both solid leadership ability and supervisory experience can become a laboratory manager. The laboratory manager is responsible for the day-to-day planning, coordination, and overall supervision of all laboratory operations. Many laboratory managers have advanced business degrees; some go on to earn certification as a Diplomat in Laboratory Management (DLM), a highly specialized credential that demonstrates advanced knowledge, focused experience, and a continuing commitment to providing an effective, efficient, high-quality laboratory environment.

The person chosen to be laboratory manager must have the right combination of people skills, business knowledge, and technical experience to coordinate the work of other laboratory personnel. The laboratory manager’s day is varied and challenging. He or she hires employees, prepares budgets, organizes work schedules, and meets with sales representatives to select laboratory supplies and equipment, and oversees marketing for the laboratory. The laboratory manager works with the pathologist to make sure that the quality of work done in the laboratory meets the highest standards.

The Program Director
A technologist who likes to teach others can become a program director in an accredited or approved medical laboratory science program. The accredited programs, located in universities, community colleges, hospitals, and laboratories, give students the chance to work and train in a real-life laboratory setting. The program director is responsible for planning and coordinating the students’ coursework and clinical training while at the school.

The program director may teach in the classroom, at the microscope, or at “the bench.” He or she helps students understand the theory behind the tests they’ll be doing as certified professionals. Additional responsibilities include giving new students guidance throughout their school years and helping them with job placement when they graduate.

The Teacher
For anyone working in a medical laboratory, education is a career-long activity. Some teachers work with those just entering the field, teaching basic laboratory skills. Others are specialists who offer continuing education in selected topics. These teachers help working technicians and technologists to keep their existing skills sharp, as well as to learn advanced new techniques and procedures to improve their ability to serve patients.

The Researcher
Laboratory technologists and technicians use their investigative skills in medical research to explore new frontiers in medicine or to develop new products. In a medical center’s research laboratory, the laboratory professional tests new ideas about the origin of diseases, develops new laboratory methods, and evaluates the effectiveness of new types of clinical treatment. To do this, he or she operates computers and precision instruments—many of which are designed specially for each project. As a researcher, the laboratory professional could be part of a team that discovers an unknown disease or a cure for a fatal disease, or expands the scientific knowledge of a known disease. In research and development departments of manufacturing companies, laboratory professionals help develop commercial diagnostic products, such as over-the-counter testing kits for pregnancy, cholesterol levels, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, kidney problems, and other diseases.