Alumni Spotlight: Board-certified Laboratory Scientist Morgan Marquart

In recognition of Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, we caught up with Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics graduate Morgan Marquart, a board-certified laboratory scientist who works for WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in the blood banking and hematology labs.

Marquart, along with her colleagues, was awarded the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies Blood Bank All-Star award for her dedication to patient care and her outstanding work.

As a medical laboratory scientist, Marquart performs tests on blood and body fluids to assist healthcare providers in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases and disorders.

Why did you choose Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics, and why did you choose to focus on Medical Laboratory Science?

I chose BLD because I always knew that I wanted to work in science, but it wasn't until I started my undergraduate degree at WVU that I realized how passionate I was about medicine. Originally, I was a biochemistry major, but I realized that I wanted to learn more about medical science. I went into medical laboratory science and immediately fell in love with my classes, and I knew I could see myself doing this.

What is your day-to-day work life like?

Currently, my day-to-day work life is testing any inpatient/outpatient blood work that comes into my departments, such as complete blood counts, hemoglobin and hematocrits, type and screens and blood typing. Being the flagship hospital for WVU Medicine means that we are a busy lab running several hundred specimens a day.

What do you love most about your job?

I think the part of my job that is the most rewarding/satisfying is helping the patients. I know that's a bit cliché, but when we have a patient who needs a large amount of blood to be transfused or see our leukemia patients go into remission, just knowing that I was part of the process of helping them get better makes me feel like what I'm doing is important.

What would you tell someone interested in this field?

It's difficult to work in a profession where most people don't know what you do, but it is worth it if you're passionate about science and medicine. I have met some of my best friends through the lab. The lab is a tight-knit community, and we all lift each other up. Honestly, just go for it. Life is too short for you not to try out something because you're afraid it's not as glamorous or highly recognized as other healthcare fields. Plus, the job security is great.

What is a common misconception about what you do?

Most people think you don't need a degree to work in a medical lab, but you need either a 4-year bachelor’s degree in lab science or a 2-year associate’s degree in lab science. We go through rigorous training and schooling (including passing a board of certification exam) to be able to apply for work. I think many people don't quite understand what happens to specimens when they come to the lab, and I wish more medical programs gave them a better understanding of how our job works. We process specimens to prep them for testing; we run the testing; we perform quality control and maintenance on our instruments, and we interpret and report our results. Some people think we just push buttons and get results, but there's a lot of work behind those results.

To learn more about the Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics program at WVU, visit medicine.wvu.edu/biomedical-laboratory-diagnostics/.