[Histonet] RE:On the lighter side...

[Mayer,Toysha N]

Tim,

Just saw your post about the 'marketable skill'.  Funny those were my mother's exact words while I was in college.  She didn't care what I majored in, as long as I got a marketable skill along the way.
The best advice I've ever gotten.  
Thanks Maria!!! (my mother)

Sincerely,

Dr.Toysha N. Mayer, D.H.Sc., MBA, HT (ASCP)
Instructor/Education Coordinator
Program in Histotechnology
School of Health Professions
UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
713.563-3481



-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Morken, Timothy
Sent: 08 August 2014 19:26
To: 'Douglas Porter'; histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: RE: [Histonet] On the lighter side...

Wow, I feel like a newbie! 28 years, registered. HT 13663, 1988, HTL 1369, 1992. Electron Microscopy Technologist, #604, 1982. 

Like most, I never heard of "histology" until I walked into a hospital lab on my first day as  an EM tech. I had seen slides made in college, but no one ever mentioned it could be an actual profession. I was more taken with the electron microscope, and there was (is) a 2-year program at the community college in the town I grew up in (Delta College, Stockton, CA). So AFTER getting a BA in Zoology, I went there to get a marketable skill. At that time EM was still used for tumor dx, so when I started it was about half tumor, half kidney. I was lucky enough to get involved in histology and set up the IHC lab at the small community hospital I worked at (as an EM tech) and so ended up phasing myself almost out of an EM job. The IHC took over all the tumor dx from EM. Later I left EM altogether and did IHC exclusively for 15 years. But, like most, I learned Histotechnology on the job but was lucky enough to work for a pathologist who believed in developing his techs - to the point of paying for meetings out of his own pocket. Only now do I know how fortunate I was to work for someone like that. Because of him we had developed a culture in the small histo lab (4 men!!) of learning. We studied together one night a week for the HT exam and all passed (and the practical!). Again, that was a fortunate experience, not very often seen in labs. 

Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology, Electron Microscopy and Neuromuscular Special Studies UC San Francisco Medical Center San Francisco, CA