In my 44 year career as a
Clinical Laboratory Professional, I’ve been blessed to serve as a bench
technologist, a supervisor, a member of “middle management,” and Chief Executive
Officer of various organizations. Working in the non-profit sector at a
regional blood center has compromised the majority of my career, but I also had
a very enjoyable two year opportunity with a commercial pharmaceutical firm that
produced blood banking reagents and provided consultation services. During this
period, I was blessed to be able to work with a majority of pioneers in the
blood banking profession including Dr. Phillip Levine, Drs. Race and Sanger, Dr.
Mollison, Dr. Alexander Weiner, and many more. Here at Gulf Coast, I was
honored to be selected as the Founding CEO and have held that position since
January 1, 1975 when The Blood Center opened.
One of the many blessings I’ve
had is to be able to give back to the profession in the form of service to
professional organizations. I was very proud to be the first blood bank
technologist to be elected President of the American Association of Blood Banks
and even prouder that many blood bank specialists were ultimately elected to
that office. Whether I am dealing with an individual patient or their family,
working with medical technology or blood bank technology students, medical
students, professional colleagues, volunteers, blood donors, politicians or any
of the other myriad of folks I work with, there are always two things that guide
the discussions and my positions on various issues. The first is an unwavering
commitment to excellence. Nothing but the best must be provided. Patient lives
depend on it, effective relationships need it to make a team function properly,
and ultimately what is done must withstand public scrutiny. The second thing is
integrity. Regardless of the situation or the individuals involved, personal
and corporate integrity must prevail. Some have defined integrity as “doing the
right thing when no one is watching,” and I believe that is an excellent
definition. Equally important, however, is publicly demonstrating the integrity
so you encourage others to do the same.
In my professional, military,
volunteer and private lives, my training as a medical technologist and blood
bank technologist have served me extremely well and is the backbone of my
values. I can think of no better profession, and the self satisfaction at the
end of the day of knowing that because your personal and collective efforts, a
patient is alive that would have otherwise not survived. Like you, I am blessed
to be in this profession! I’m proud of it, and I’m honored to serve with you.