Medical Laboratory Sciences: Heroes Behind the Scenes Part 3

What do brain-eating amoeba, blood transfusions and COVID-19 tests have in common? Medical Laboratory Scientists, that’s what. In this 3-part series, hear from faculty and students in the Medical Laboratory Sciences program at VCU as they explain their unlikely journeys in this field. Historically a “behind the scenes” role, Medical Laboratory Science is one of the most under-recognized healthcare careers; however, MLS professionals provide answers to life-saving decisions every day. They do everything from providing cancer testing results, to predicting the correct antibiotic to prescribe, to typing the correct blood for surgery.

Featured guest
Stephen Friedrichs - VCU MLS Student

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Transcript

Welcome to CHB conversations podcast series produced by the BC College of Health Professions. This series includes conversations with faculty, students, and alumni who exemplify our mission to create influential leaders in health care. Today, we are joined by one of our master's students in the Medical Laboratory Sciences Department here and see each P. I'm here with Stephen Frederick's. Hello Chelsea. How are you doing today, Stephen doing very well. Thanks so much for joining us. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Sure. I'm a Richmond local, so I grew up not too far from here in a county called below thin, I guess the city is nothing but the county has Chesterfield. And then I went to VCU for my undergraduate in 2014, graduated in 2018. And my major was in forensic science and biology at a double-major. Then I worked for a few years in a Toxicology Lab and Enrico County, not too far from here. And then I decided to go back for my masters and medical lab sciences. So I'm currently doing that right now. Awesome. When you started your program, I guess as far as the undergraduate degree, did you know automatically you want it to kind of translate that into medical lab sciences or Was that something that you kind of stumbled upon? It was definitely something I stumbled upon when I was a undergraduate student. I didn't I wasn't actually aware that we had an undergraduate program in medical lab sciences. And throughout my time at the Department of Forensic Science, I solely became more attuned to my own career preferences. So I was actually headed towards pursuing a master's in education so that I could teach biology because that was gonna be my goal. Then COVID hit as a lot of people in our generation are going to be using for quite some time and things change. So I became a little bit more acutely aware of the growing need for people in the care delivery system for hospitals. And with my mom being a nurse, I had the option of shadowing her in her unit. And I quickly realized that nursing wasn't for me. And I also realized that it was already too late for me to go to any other long-term school programs. So we're going to medical school. And so I pursued a medical lab sciences after looking at VCU as options for graduate programs. So I kinda fell into it. But I'm very happy that I discovered it the way I did. Because now I'm in the position where I can take it much more seriously. Yeah. So it was kind of like faith in a way? Definitely. Did you ever have a sort of like Greenlight moment or kinda like an epiphany of this is totally what I want to do with my life. Even if it was while you were shadowing or prior to that? I would say that the green-light moment came when a friend and I were talking about the prospect of going back to school when you're already I'd say I was 25 of the time, so I was already quite accustomed to living as an adult, going out on the weekends, hanging out with your friends, enjoying your for your time? Yeah. Some would say that living the nine to five as another would say. But when I had so much time during the lockdown and afterwards, just to really evaluate what I was doing and who it was for. After you work in your first real big boy job, girl named job for a couple of years, you start thinking about the work that you're doing and who its supports. And if it doesn't line up with your philosophies, then it makes it really hard to stay motivated. And so there was a moment at my previous job where we had a very intense week that required us to work very late. And it was just a very tough week in general, we had some Rush projects that were ordered by our clients. And at the end of the week, wouldn't we succeeded. I asked my group leader, hey, you know, where they tried to get FDA approval for something and that they are their deadline that they needed to meet. And she told me that they just wanted to have some interesting data for a luncheon that they're doing on Friday. And, you know, that week I had stayed up till like I was at work till like 2AM, like doing just reading auger plates for this company that just wanted them for a lunch meeting? Yeah. Yeah. I was just like, man, I can't handle the fact that the sacrifices that I'm making here are just benefiting this very small niche group of shareable. And I would rather my hard work go towards people like you and me, the hospital system and patients and whatnot. That's definitely say that's inspiring and I've worked with you in the past as far as being a recruitment ambassador and soda, hear that story. Definitely. Re-install is that seeing the passion that our students have for the programs that they're, that they're in currently. Um, so once you kind of had that aha moment and decide if this doesn't really align with my values and kind of how I see myself impacting the world. How did you then prepare in making that pivot or shifting those priorities? That's a great question because I didn't know how it was going when I when I first started thinking about it, the best thing that I did. Now that I'm looking back was just talking to a lot of people, people that I respect, the people whose advice I wanted to ask. So a lot of role models, people who had already been to graduate school or higher, group leaders. My brother has a master's degree. Just different friends. You know, you don't need to get advice from people who have already been to school, but also advice from people who may not have gone to school is just as valuable. So a few of the people that I asked hadn't gotten that far in school and we're keen to give me their opinion on that aspect of doing that. So that was kind of how it prepared for the reality of the decision that I was making. Yeah. Can you recall one of the greatest pieces of advice that you'd received in this in that season? Yeah. I would say that the best piece of advice that I got because the biggest hurdle that I was facing was okay, Well, I moved out of my parents. I've been living independent of them for quite some time now. And I have built grad school is not cheap. In fact, those school is cheap. And how, um, how am I going to support myself and pay for school while also minimizing the amount of loans that I'll take out and without hopefully without moving it back in with my parents because they did live close enough to where that was a viable option, but that was gonna be like my last resort. I've already I'm already way too different from my parents to go back. And in talking to one of my friends, she had said, well, if you wait another two years, you might still think that you're going to save up more money, but then you'll be 30 and you'll probably still be broke by going back to school. No matter how much you think you'll save. We all have our saving goals and it's always very hard to meet them. And so in the two years that I was thinking to myself to save more money, maybe I would achieve that objective, but in that same time frame, maybe I would lose the passion that I had for actually applying and making that move. And so when she said that I was like, You're definitely right. Now because I have the fire, I have the passionate, I have the motivation, and the money, and the other stress about where am I going to live and parking fees, et cetera. All of that can come second because what's more important is that I invest in myself and treat myself like a business owner would with with opening a new business is that it requires investment or that there's always gonna be risky, but not to let it determine. Absolutely. So you've recently started the program. How has that transition been from going to preparing to enroll in the program and applying to actually starting the program. How has that transition been? It's been really smooth. I would say that the faculty at the department have absolutely been readily available to me and to my, my peers in order to answer questions, provide assistance. But also just to be understanding with the fact that you're an adult and you're not an undergraduate student and that you have things in life that you need to take care of. So I'd say that the transition was very smooth because of the faculty here at CHP and in the MIS department, but also because I was working already downtown and that made it a lot easier with my current situation to be able to work and flexibility. Hop on over just a few blocks down from the MCV campus Masie Center over down here to go to classes and then go back to work. Whereas if I were working at my last job, it would be a 30 minute drive and there's no way I was able to do it as frequently. Yeah. Yeah. So what does a normal day look like for you? Typically, I either go to class first, so either around nine or eight. And then in-between there and my next class, I'll go to work for 4 h or some of the days that I have a bigger gap, I'll work for more than 4 h, so 56 or eight on Fridays because they don't have classes. One of the cool things about being a student again, is that it does open the door for a lot of flexibility for you to do different odds and ends. So finally, I can do errands like go to the DMV. Whereas even though I wasn't yeah, even though I wasn't a grad student and I had a fairly predictable job before going doing things like that during the day was impossible because they would just you'd have to take off. We're good to go to the dentist. But now I have Windows. And so I always appreciate that about school. Very, very cool. Do those windows also allow for ways that you can get involved or how are you involved on campus. So that's a really good point to bring up because. Now that I have this oneness as you're talking about, I can be more involved with open houses that the department that I'm in is doing or that the actual school. So College of Health Professions. And I can definitely participate in a lot of those events because it's really important to me to do so. The one of the biggest kickers that got me to actually apply for VCU was coming for an open house when I was in high-school, so 2013. And I went to the Department of Forensic Science and they had graduate students there along with alpha t and they were just showing some of the labs we're in the department and some of the work that was going on and that really helped me to visualize myself there. When you see other students talking about the program you're interested in and they've already made it. It makes it a little bit easier to see yourself in their role. So that's a big part of why I am very happy to participate in those events now as a graduate student is maybe I'll do the same for someone else. Absolutely. And I'm sure you've already made a difference and having that impact. But you also mentioned the balancing at the schedule and having sort of pockets within your day. How do you, how do you balance? How are you able to manage that? What some may think is kind of a crazy schedule or, you know, technology. If I didn't have my iPhone or a smartphone in general, this is not an apple hosted podcasts that I've had to Androids before. I do love Android's. What I do is I make blocks for my calendar. For when I know I'm gonna be busy. I planted a couple of months in a head, just in terms of which I hard commitments I've actually comes into. And then the week before on Sunday because I'm usually not doing anything on Sundays. You besides from just watching TV. Oh, look at my week and I'll prepare just mentally for what I need to do. And that is tremendously helped me this semester. I've never done that before. And undergraduate and an undergraduate, I always felt like I was drowning in time conflicts where I had already committed to something and I needed to do something else where now I have the ability or foresight I guess, to see what I need to do and to also make sure that nothing is conflicting. Awesome, Yes, we love technology. That's for sure. Yeah. Alarm. Yes. Absolutely. I'm going to shift gears just a little bit here with the master's program here at VCU. I understand it can be either full-time or part-time. You've mentioned a bit as far as like how you're able to balance the program that you're currently enrolled in. But could you share yes. If you are a full-time or part-time and kind of how you made that decision. So I'm doing the degree full-time, which is I believe for master's students anywhere between nine or eight credits and 13 or 14 credits. I actually don't remember off the top of my head. But I switched from part-time or full-time work to part-time work and then went to full-time grad school. And the reason I did that because I did consider as a VCU university employee, I do get the option of taking, I think at least six credits a semester while being full-time. But then again, there's a bit of an internal clock with my age and where I want to be in a couple of years and looking at the degree requirements. So it's all very specific to what you wanna do. So for me, with the amount of courses that I needed to take in the fact that I had a six-week clinical rotation, that I needed to do. It all factored into the decision to go to school full-time. If it were part-time, it would take me lot longer. Again. When I go into something, I kinda go in all the way. And it's very difficult for me to just be partially in school without losing some of that and hashing or fire that I had hardest at the beginning of the application process. That completely makes sense. I know you mentioned, as far as with the coursework, some of the curriculum can be kinda like specialized to what you're interested in. So I know some some coursework students are able to take like hematology, they're doing blood banking. Um, is there a certain course or class that has kind of stood out in your mind? It's like, Oh my gosh, I can't wait to take this art. Wow, I get to take this. I get to do this. Yeah. I forgot to clarify that because I have an undergraduate in a separate degree, forensic science and biology, that I had to choose a category, the master's program. If I were a undergrad in MLS than I could do an advanced master's and I would still have that open certification that allow that would allow me to, I guess, practice. I'm not sure if that's the right word. But practice in any particular field within the MLS system. So in order to go to grad school in MLS and to get certification, I had to actually choose a specialty. Okay. So I chose the microbiology specialty. And to answer your question, a particular course that is offered that I'm very excited for. I would say that there's a few. And I would categorize them into two groups. The first being what I'm interested in as a member of the University and someone who was actively pursuing higher education. And then Saunders also vary genuinely interested in the core science, so the microbiology. So there's a course that's offered that is entirely focused on higher education. Being an educator for your peers, your responsibilities as a professional, to continue in your ability to educate others. And so I had a passion for teaching and I really did enjoy it. Middle schoolers are so fun, they have so much energy and they're not quite so pessimistic as high schoolers yet. So I had a really great opportunity of doing a lot of those classes when I was an undergraduate for after-school programs, the way you just described middle. I love it. Yeah, they're great because they still are imaginative without also being really narcissistic. I guess, the best way of knowing myself based off of my own personal experience, experience in high school. And so there's a course that's offered for teaching, learning techniques and how to be more responsible educator and so on. Who's more aware of some of the more nuanced parts of education. And I would love to take that course just so that I know if I'd ever do need to go into that side of the career, that I'll be a little bit more prepared. Then on the specialty side, we offer a course that's specific about the pathogenicity of viral mechanisms. And so I'm really interested to just learn more about that part of to reinforce my knowledge in that area. So could you see yourself going into academia and being an educator at some point with this background, it definitely is an opportunity that I would pursue if the timing we're writing. So I always tell myself that if I want to educate others, I need to have served my time in the trenches. In the trenches, I would like to after this program, immediately go to work in the field. And then after a few years, maybe a few decades, were not as good as our parents aren't staying at a job for a great one continuous streak. So after who knows how long, I would definitely be open to pursuing academia, teaching on that and that side of things. It just depends on where I stand. Because I also do want to make myself available to parts of society, education that may not have access to some of the resources. So like community college or just public schools, because I'm a very big proponent of supporting public schools. Share with us maybe some common misconceptions about medical lab sciences are you interact with students that are thinking about MLS? Do you ever get some like left field questions or really just missed, I guess, misconceptions about what it's like to be a student or working in the field. It's a great question. Unfortunately. It's because this is my first semester in the graduate program. It's a little bit difficult to imagine what some of the misconceptions, others might have because I just haven't been exposed to them yet. But I would say that maybe my own misconceptions about the program was that when I first heard about MLS medical lab sciences, I didn't realize it was a career. I thought it was more of a umbrella sure. That people would use to then go working in a hospital like as a Dr. like, I thought it was something that you just did is your undergrad or party undergrad like attract a general path of different courses that would set you on course for being a Dr. or for being a physician's assistant or something. So that was my biggest misconception was that it was an umbrella and that it wasn't its own career with its own accredited certification that you receive. That's a really good point. That can either benefit or hurt, hurt students when they're interested in this program, are thinking about the program because for some it can be, it can be that kind of a means to an end. But for so many like this, this is the, say, this is the dream, but this is certainly a passion for so many students. And so I think that's a very, that's a great point that you mentioned because I I know I get a lot of those questions. I think you really need to just know yourself in order to understand. If you actually wanted to go into this. Field and career. After you spend some time learning about your preferences and your skills and what you feel like you excel in. And then you pick MLS, it's perfect for you. But if you kind of go into MLS without any idea about if it's the career for you, you might spend a lot of time taking really hard courses that maybe you didn't need to take? Absolutely. Do you have any words of advice for students that might be interested in this program in ways that they can prepare or kind of prepare for that next step. I would say the best advice that I can give is just a fuel your natural curiosity. Read some interesting books, read some interesting articles, find something that you are curious about and fuel it. Because the curiosity can take you anywhere. And motivation, things like that, hard work, they always come along with your natural curiosity. So when you're curious about something and you're reading into it almost as if it's for fun. That's when you realize that that's where you need to be. Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. So before we wrap up today, We will I would like to ask you a few questions. This is what I like to call chip and choose. It's like a lightning round. Five super random questions. Just a better get to know you, your experience at VCU, kinda like the things you like. What's the last thing you did here in the Richmond area? What's your favorite place here on campus? It's funny you asked that because I'm split between the Monroe Park campus and the MCV campus. So my favorite place on the MCV campus would probably be, it's kind of tough to say because the MCV this year, so spread out, so sprawl, it's not as concentrated. I would say that I just I love the CHP building. So cliche to say, but I'm not being paid to say that just for clarity, I did not pay him for this guy is a promise. But if we're talking about Richmond and we're making a separation between the campus and Richard. Okay. Because I have places in Russia that I like that I would love to talk about. But on campus the CHP building is so-called because it's a hub. It's a beautiful, highly developed hub that hosts a whole range of professionals, students and events. And being able to constantly walk in and see all the different phases, all the different opportunities. We're in here in the CHP building, recording a podcast and a maker Studio. That's pretty incredible. So I would say that my favorite place on campus by far is the CHP building. Very, very cool. And again, we did not pay him. If you didn't study medical lab sciences, what would you have done? Well, I would say that I was on this track before I actually chose medical lab sciences. So even before when I did my undergraduate. So if I completely choose a different field that doesn't involve the science to teaching, I would probably have done something related to computer science. Being able to have that skill today would have enabled me to work from home. And that would have been, unfortunately, throughout all of COVID. I was still slogging away going going in, yeah, considered essential, essential. So that would've been nice. If all my friends who got to work from home, I'm sure as was the last local foods spot you've done that. There is a amazing pizza place and Churchill called Anthony's on the hill. And they have a 17 inch Detroit style pan pizza. That was honestly the best I've had in a while. It was so seriously, I wish you guys could see my judges. So I will definitely be the most edges. I had heaps of cheese, fresh, very fresh basil. You could, you can almost smell the bezel off of the pizza, so it was really good. And you're making me very hungry at 09:30 A.M. right? Right. Right. Because I should've had breakfast. Okay. Last two, what is the favorite your favorite festival that you've attended here in Richmond? Oh, that's such a good question because I've been to so many. Yeah. I would say that it's a tie between the Lebanese and the Arminian food festival. Both of those are very, very awesome because they have such a grassroots feeling to them. Sure. Whether they're hosted by the local Armenian community or the local Lebanese community. And they really just are so open arms to you into their culture, into their food and traditions. And it's really welcoming and it's really fun to enjoy that part of the world that not a lot of people are going to ever see share. So it's just a very, very cool, both of those vessels are great for that reason. Very, very cool. And my last question, probably the most important question that I've asked you all morning, nuts, either squirrel or Rodney the RAM. I'm going to answer you with a reply that you probably won't like. Well, I'm gonna go kicker, the kicker that kangaroo. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Left. So I'm not a big baseball fan. Okay. Well, you see my arms don't work so great for basketball. I played soccer going up. So the Richmond kickers mascot, kicker the kangaroo, he's my guy. Okay. We can support that. We can put them in I will I will put him They just got firsthand and their division in the conference. Okay. Well, you're teaching you're teaching me something. Alright, so what happens after that? Do they then go to another level of, well, unfortunately, the sports system in the United States don't really mimic what they would be like in Europe. So if this were Europe, the kicker's would then be boosted up to the next division above them. And then their position would be replaced by the lower, the lower three of the uppers. So it's relegation. Gotcha. So the top three replaces the bottom three of the upper one. But in the United States, everything's about money, so the figures don't have enough money to go up to the MLS, Major League Soccer. So they kind of, even though they won their division, that kinda just stay, stay where they are exactly. And that's okay. We will support them nonetheless. Yes. And we will certainly add them to the list there, which also is kind of funny because the average home attendance is about 5,000. So when we compare ourselves to some of the other teams in the same division who have average home, home attendance of maybe like 500. It doesn't feel like we belong. So we're in this weird position where we don't belong like the Major Leagues. We also know exactly, but yeah, very cool. Okay. Well, I know I personally learned a lot both in regards to medical lab sciences and Major League Soccer. The MLS not to be confused for the two. And really what it takes to write, good job, great. And really what it takes to flourish in a field that you're passionate about. So thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. So even if our listeners have any questions for you, are there ways that they might be able to get in contact with you or connect with you as a currently enrolled students? Yeah. I'm definitely open. If anyone were curious about MLS or maybe the background into applying for the program. You can reach out to my e-mail. You can reach out to Chelsea. I'm sure that her emails available, but my email is it's my last name, so I'll have to spell it out. If you have any questions about the medical lab sciences program or what it takes to get to this point. You can certainly reach out to us here in the College of Health Professions. Contact information will be added in the show notes of ways that you might be able to get in contact with either myself or Stephen as well. You can also check us out on our Instagram page at VCU, CHP on Instagram, That's another great way. Dms messages, comment, all those great things as far as any questions that you might have. But again, thank you so much, Stephen. Thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your experience. Absolutely.