Laboratory: Staff
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Who makes up the Laboratory team?
Dr. Fernando Garcia serves as Medical Director of Laboratory Services at Eastern. A pathologist, Dr. Garcia’s background includes a fellowship in surgical pathology and infectious disease at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Before joining CTCA, Dr. Garcia worked at Drexel University College of Medicine and Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia.
While Dr. Garcia oversees all of the clinical divisions of the Laboratory, Ellen Kellom, Director of Laboratory Services, is responsible for the department’s day-to-day administration and operation.
Kellom is a medical technologist registered by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP). She also holds a Master of Science degree and a Specialist in Blood Banking (SBB) certification.
The department consists of 20 employees, with medical technologists and phlebotomists making up the majority. There are also laboratory assistants, analysts, supervisors, and an information systems coordinator.
The Laboratory staff is extensively trained. According to Kellom, in addition to a bachelor’s degree, most of the medical technologists have also completed six-month to year-long clinical rotations, similar to nurses.
“Everyone on my staff has six years of experience or more,” says Kellom. Also, when they get to CTCA, medical technologists have required training. “Our training can last anywhere from six weeks to 12 weeks in addition to everything else,” she says.
