[Histonet] Microcredentials for Histology

[Kara, Phillip]

Good morning everyone.

I recently started a position with the University of North Texas Health Science Center as their Histology Research Associate. During a quick meeting with my director he mentioned that he was interested in possibly setting up a 'microcredentialing' program for Histology since our lab is now up and running.
Pretty much from what he was telling me it would be similar to when we were in high school taking those computer classes where we would get the Microsoft certifications showing we knew how to use Word, Excel, Powerpoint, ect.
My hope would be to try setting it up in such a way that students when finished would have a better understanding of what we do in Histology but also have the basics to possibly sit (depending on how long out program would last) for the HT exam using the route 2 option ["Both require prior education in the histology field, either through attending a histology program<https://www.nsh.org/learn/histology-schools>, or acquiring laboratory experience in the field."]
My question for the field is 2 fold.

  1.  Is this something that you think could be a second path for people to get into the field of Histology due to our nation wide shortage? We deal with med students, pre med, medical research students, and starting a nursing program here next year.
  2.  If this could work what do you think I should focus on? My initial thoughts were of course sectioning, processing, maybe even some staining. But what else?

Interested to hear everyone's thoughts on the topic.

[https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=8e07797374&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1778656250049141922&th=18af0e6f89b51ca2&view=fimg&fur=ip&sz=s0-l75-ft&attbid=ANGjdJ8LWmuH5_BzU-y7vwwBOWcW_Ue6DO0UFBd0pTuQUq3tVH-HDPbJqzQxDFkDYKhFdT1mINf6UvGbJXAVg6WgX_U5TGZ-Dbo_vlWhmEqc8vfEpdnm-RoiZo2RO3c&disp=emb]

Phillip Kara, HTL | Senior Research Associate

University of North Texas Health Science Center

Division of Research and Innovation

a: 3500 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107

p: 918-281-9060

w: www.unthsc.edu/corelabs<http://www.unthsc.edu/corelabs>