I was fortunate enough to get a job as a Forensic Scientist right after graduation in 2010 at Quest Diagnostics. It was here that the foundation for my professional career was laid. The clinical work was exhausting, and the hours long, but I wouldn’t have traded the experience for anything. It molded me into the highly driven scientist that I am today.Upon completing my board certification in forensic toxicology, I went to work in the toxicology lab at Children’s Mercy Hospital as a certified Toxicology and Biochemical Genetics Analyst. In addition to routine genetics and general clinical laboratory testing, I performed clinical toxicology testing for every Kansas City area hospital, and forensic toxicology testing for the Jackson County Medical Examiners office, and most of the Missouri police departments in the vicinity of Kansas City, Missouri. This work was both extremely heavy, and deeply gratifying. It was here that my desire for research and development grew until I desired to work in research full time.MRIGlobal was the perfect job at the perfect time. I had spent the last 3 years at the hospital fine tuning my method development skills, and I was more than ready to do it on a much grander scale. I was performing bio-analytical method development for clients using everything from LC-QTOF-MS, GC-MS, LC-MS-MS, and HS-GC-FID to name a few until one day in March of 2020 when everything changed. MRIGlobal had a small clinical lab at the time, and started performing SARS-CoV-2 patient and research testing in June of 2020. It became apparent that the small lab staff with a single qualified CAP/CLIA Technical Supervisor leading them needed urgent help. Because of my previous clinical experience, I also qualified as a CAP/CLIA Technical Supervisor. Over 2 years and many tens of thousands of samples later, I am still leading our CAP/CLIA lab. We have more than tripled in size. We have added millions of dollars in new instrumentation, and have on-boarded over a dozen different diagnostic respiratory assays which we use to support client’s FDA EUA and 510(k) submissions.
