Blogs

By Leslie Johnston, HT (ASCP)


I’m a career ASCP certified Clinical Medical Technologist and in 2002, life threw me a curveball. With that curveball came a fantastic opportunity to work in a Research Histopathology Lab. After several years of becoming proficient at necropsy, histotechniques, IHC and special stains, to name a few, and being backed by the knowledgeable, experienced histologists, I sat for my HT (ASCP), passed and immediately joined NSH in 2009 to take advantage of available career advancing educational opportunities and to meet ASCP qualifications for continued HT certification.

In the Fall of 2019, the opportunity was offered to me to attend the actual 2020 NSH Convention in Reno, NV.  Due to scheduling conflicts, I was not able to accept that offer but jumped at the chance to attend the Virtual NSH Convention this year.  At this time, this really allows more flexibility with my schedule to take advantage of the online opportunities.

I am looking forward to the opportunities to attend multiple if not all classes that will be offered since the live session workshops will also be available to view in the On-Demand Library. With the NSH live-stream workshop sessions starting in the afternoon, this will also allow for greater work flexibility in the mornings. A win-win situation!  

COVID has affected all aspects of life for everyone, everywhere! Working in a research laboratory setting, I was fortunate and blessed to be able to transition to full-time telework in March through June (much to the dismay of my cat…but the dog loved it!)

It was odd to be working from my bedroom and actually allowed to have my fur babies be a full-time part of my workday, but I appreciated both the respite from the daily commute and actually having more time to take advantage of attending educational webinars as well as getting caught up on the paperwork duties.

Having my son return to the household from college for 5 months was also a different but very much welcomed time! I was constantly flexing my telework times to accommodate his online learning (both areas the current new norm for us) but we both managed that timing pretty well.