This year April 18-24 is Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, an annual celebration of medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in health care and patient advocacy led by the American Society for Clinical Pathology. Celebrations took place throughout the week, including lunches for lab staff on Wednesday, April 21, and a photo contest. The Lab Week Photo Contest, sponsored by Marisa Marques, M.D., Interim Division Director, Laboratory Medicine, asked department and hospital lab staff to submit images that "identify beauty found in the midst of a global pandemic."

First Place Winner:
Christine DeGreen, night shift Core Lab – untitled 

Second Place Winner:
Tabatha van Vuren, Molecular Lab –"Lab Family"

Third Place Winner:
Terri Kocurek, the Kirklin Clinic Lab – Coconino National Forest

"We had 38 beautiful entries and had 5 jurors blinded to the photo 'artist' rank them," Marques says. "We ended up with 7 finalists and at a second vote, ended up with the 3 winners seen here."

A gallery of all the submissions received can be viewed here.

Our hospital lab staff were provided with box lunches to recognize their hard work. Several of our team members took photos of our outstanding lab teams to mark the occasion, and some of our residents in the Anatomic Pathology division posed for a few as well.

  
 
The Department of Pathology is grateful to all the UAB laboratory staff for all their hard work and dedication to their work, an integral part of our department.