FELICIAN COLLEGE SALUTES LABORATORY WEEK

Rutherford and Lodi, NJ - National Medical Laboratory Week April 15-21, 2001, is a time to honor the more than 280,000 medical laboratory professionals across the nation who perform and interpret laboratory tests that save lives and keep people healthy. Pathologists and laboratory technologists and technicians across the nation are among the many unsung heroes of medical healthcare.

Using state-of-the art technology and instrumentation, laboratory professionals help to prevent disease by detecting unknown health problems and by aiding in the diagnosis and treatment of existing conditions by giving accurate, timely test results.

To celebrate National Medical Laboratory Week, laboratories across the country will host open houses, tours, lectures, and demonstrations to help acquaint the public and other health care professionals with the workings of the medical laboratory.

"We are proud of the work we do," said Professor Marilyn R. Rubin, Program Director of Felician College's MLT Program. "Our ULT graduates have to be painstakingly meticulous in performing their jobs to provide dependable answers to your family physicians. "

Results of laboratory tests often identify the presence of disease in its earliest stages, when the possibilities of a cure are greatest and when treatment is least costly.

Medical laboratory professionals represent a variety of specialties, including pathologists, medical technologists, clinical laboratory scientists, medical laboratory technicians, histotechnologists, histologic technicians, cytotechnologists, cytopathologists, phlebotomy technicians, clinical chemists, microbiologists, laboratory managers and medical educators.

These professionals can be found in hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, research facilities, blood banks, public health centers, the Armed forces, universities and industry. Within the laboratory, these highly educated and experienced medical laboratory professionals may work in chemistry, serology, hematology, cytotechnology, microbiology, immunology, coagulation, histology, urinalysis, molecular biology, or the blood bank.

For more information about a career in the medical laboratory, call the Department of Allied Health Professions at Felician College (201) 559-6185 or visit www.felician.edu/Depart/AHP/index.htm. You can also visit the American Society of Clinical Pathologists' website at www.ascp.org/general/labweek.