Career
The medical laboratory scientist, also known as medical laboratory scientist or medical technologist, functions as a vital member of the health care team by providing detailed laboratory test data necessary for disease diagnosis and treatment.
Highly sophisticated technologies combine with delicate and complex manual procedures in qualitative and quantitative analyses of blood, body fluids and tissues.
Medical laboratory scientists, may work as staff, managers or consultants in hospitals, clinics, reference laboratories or physician office labs. They may be generalists, with expertise in all areas, or specialists in areas such as:
- Hematology
- Hemostasis
- Immunology
- Chemistry
- Blood Banking
- Flow Cytometry
- Molecular Diagnostics
- Microbiology
Medical laboratory scientists may find employment as lab information specialists or work in quality management, infection control or supervision/administration. Other opportunities may be found with laboratory supply vendors as technical specialists, service or sales representatives; in forensic science; and in education within medical centers and universities.
Medical laboratory scientists may also work in veterinary science centers or the armed forces, while others apply their lab skills outside of healthcare in agricultural, environmental or industrial labs in research, development, testing and quality control.