News & Announcements

NSH Was Doing Distance Learning Before It Was Cool — Here’s Why It Still Works

By Ashley Stewart posted 20 days ago
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article NSH is the leading provider of histology education—from the NSH Annual Convention , to eLearn , our online learning center, to our online histology community, The Block . But there’s another NSH educational gem that’s been around since the days of kodachromes—one many members don’t even realize exists. The NSH Laboratory Webinar Series (formerly the Teleconference Series) has quietly delivered high-quality, histology-focused education for nearly thirty years, curated—and often taught—by NSH members themselves. Despite its long history, this program remains one of NSH’s best-kept secrets. Curious why ...
0 comments

The Hunt for the Perfect Slide

By Ashley Stewart posted 11-26-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article Every histologist has had some kind of adhesion slide mishap in the lab. Maybe you put a tissue on a slide and can’t keep it in place. Maybe you find a background stain on the slide as you’re working. Maybe some water gets trapped under the tissue and you can’t get a good scan when doing digital pathology. Whatever the case, you end up with a problem that means you have to start over—which will not make your colleagues happy. “Nobody wants to have an unhappy pathologist,” said Rachel Finn, MBA, HTL (ASCP)CM, Product Marketing Specialist at StatLab. “Nobody wants to take that extra time to have to repair that slide or to recut and restain ...
0 comments

From Professional to Patient: A Med Tech’s Organ Donation Journey

By Ashley Stewart posted 11-10-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article As a med tech with a medical laboratory science education, Natasha Leon, MLS(ASCP)SBB (sister in law of our 2025 Histotechnologist of the Year, Nicole Leon), of Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin feels very comfortable with healthcare procedures. She spent most of her career in a hospital setting doing transfusion service, and has since moved to the blood donor side of the field. However, when her personal and professional lives collided, she got a crash course in the organ donation area of healthcare, which Leon shares in the NSH When Worlds Collide Through Organ Donation webinar. While Leon understood what was happening when ...
0 comments

Dementia Demystified

By Ashley Stewart posted 10-31-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article According to the Alzheimer’s Association , there are currently over 7 million people around the country living with Alzheimer’s disease—and that amount is expected to skyrocket to 13 million by 2050. And as the number of people living with the condition increases, so does the price tag for their care. The organization also reports that the health and long-term care costs for dementia patients is currently $384 billion and by 2050, it will be $1 trillion. Despite this prevalence and cost, Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia are not as understood as they could be. One example of the consequences of this ...
0 comments

So You Want To Be A Manager?

By Ashley Stewart posted 10-27-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article Sometimes management gets a bad reputation. The stress, the long hours, and the tough decisions are not for everyone, but there is so much positive if you do it right. Leadership isn’t just about meetings and managing tasks; it’s about teaching, influencing, and helping others find real satisfaction in their work. I’ve learned more about myself being a manager than I ever would have otherwise. Here are some truths about being a manager that no one told me when I started. Leadership is a Journey, Not a Destination Leadership never stops and that’s a good thing! Every day you must grow as a person to keep growing as a leader. You need ...
0 comments

Meet Nicole Leon, NSH’s 2025 Histotechnologist of the Year

By Ashley Stewart posted 10-27-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article It’s no surprise that Nicole Leon, BS, HTL(ASCP), ended up becoming the Senior Coordinator of the Histology Research Laboratory at the Versiti Blood Research Institute. Although when she was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, she was unsure about what career path she wanted to pursue, she always loved being in the lab. When her advisor mentioned histotechnology as a possible career, Nicole knew it was the right choice for her because she could sit behind a microscope and multitask other job duties. Since starting out as a bench histotechnologist in 1998, Nicole has gone on to move into managerial roles and now ...
0 comments

How Digital Image Analysis Strengthens H&E Staining Quality Control

By Ashley Stewart posted 10-27-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining underpins nearly every diagnostic and research decision made in histology laboratories. With thousands of slides processed daily, even small fluctuations in staining quality can compromise reproducibility, turnaround times, and ultimately patient care. Yet, most laboratories still rely on subjective visual checks to monitor reagent performance. A new study “ Utilizing image analysis by optical density to evaluate changes in hematoxylin and eosin staining quality after reagent overuse ” published in the Journal of Histotechnology demonstrates how digital image analysis can quantify subtle changes ...
0 comments

U.S. Cancer Research at a Breaking Point: NIH’s Grant Race Tightens Sharply

By Ashley Stewart posted 10-27-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article The United States has long been a global leader in cancer research, channeling billions of federal dollars into laboratories that have transformed once-fatal diagnoses into treatable or even curable conditions. Steady support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has underpinned landmark discoveries—from targeted therapies to cutting-edge immunotherapies—while training the next generation of investigators. That foundation is now under acute strain. With critical projects stalled, the funding crisis threatens not only laboratory progress but the trajectory of cancer care itself. In ...
0 comments

The Devil You Know: Common Reasons Change Doesn’t Happen in the Lab

By Ashley Stewart posted 10-27-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article Woodrow Wilson was famously quoted as saying, “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” This bit of wisdom is not only true for politics; it’s also true in the lab. But, although we may be initially inclined to resist change, we have to remember that it has been an integral part of the histology profession since the beginning. The Godfather of Histology, Johannes Müller, would hardly recognize the scientific discipline he established in 1838. Since publishing On the Nature and Structural Characteristics of Cancer and of Those Morbid Growths Which May Be Confounded With It, we have seen the introduction of the use of microtomes ...
0 comments

Are You Making Time to Invest in Your Career?

By Ashley Stewart posted 10-27-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article When was the last time you prioritized learning something to help advance your career? If you're like most people, you probably can't remember. After all, work is busy, life is busy—and every day we're making decisions about how to spend our time. Should you pick up an extra shift or go grocery shopping? Stay late at work or keep your weekly date night? Carving out 30–60 minutes to learn a new career skill may not feel urgent today—but these are exactly the skills that can help elevate your role and your salary in the future. Even more importantly, the skills that make employees truly irreplaceable are often overlooked because they’re ...
0 comments

So You Want To Be A Manager?

By Ashley Stewart posted 10-17-2025
1 person recommends this.
Listen to Article Sometimes management gets a bad reputation. The stress, the long hours, and the tough decisions are not for everyone, but there is so much positive if you do it right. Leadership isn’t just about meetings and managing tasks; it’s about teaching, influencing, and helping others find real satisfaction in their work. I’ve learned more about myself being a manager than I ever would have otherwise. Here are some truths about being a manager that no one told me when I started. Leadership is a Journey, Not a Destination Leadership never stops and that’s a good thing! Every day you must grow as a person to keep growing as a leader. You need ...
1 comment

Meet Nicole Leon, NSH’s 2025 Histotechnologist of the Year

By Ashley Stewart posted 09-30-2025
1 person recommends this.
Listen to Article It’s no surprise that Nicole Leon, BS, HTL(ASCP), ended up becoming the Senior Coordinator of the Histology Research Laboratory at the Versiti Blood Research Institute. Although when she was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay, she was unsure about what career path she wanted to pursue, she always loved being in the lab. When her advisor mentioned histotechnology as a possible career, Nicole knew it was the right choice for her because she could sit behind a microscope and multitask other job duties. Since starting out as a bench histotechnologist in 1998, Nicole has gone on to move into managerial roles and now ...
4 comments

How Digital Image Analysis Strengthens H&E Staining Quality Control

By Ashley Stewart posted 09-19-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining underpins nearly every diagnostic and research decision made in histology laboratories. With thousands of slides processed daily, even small fluctuations in staining quality can compromise reproducibility, turnaround times, and ultimately patient care. Yet, most laboratories still rely on subjective visual checks to monitor reagent performance. A new study “ Utilizing image analysis by optical density to evaluate changes in hematoxylin and eosin staining quality after reagent overuse ” published in the Journal of Histotechnology demonstrates how digital image analysis can quantify subtle changes ...
0 comments

U.S. Cancer Research at a Breaking Point: NIH’s Grant Race Tightens Sharply

By Ashley Stewart posted 09-05-2025
1 person recommends this.
Listen to Article The United States has long been a global leader in cancer research, channeling billions of federal dollars into laboratories that have transformed once-fatal diagnoses into treatable or even curable conditions. Steady support from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has underpinned landmark discoveries—from targeted therapies to cutting-edge immunotherapies—while training the next generation of investigators. That foundation is now under acute strain. With critical projects stalled, the funding crisis threatens not only laboratory progress but the trajectory of cancer care itself. In ...
0 comments

The Devil You Know: Common Reasons Change Doesn’t Happen in the Lab

By Ashley Stewart posted 08-22-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article Woodrow Wilson was famously quoted as saying, “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” This bit of wisdom is not only true for politics; it’s also true in the lab. But, although we may be initially inclined to resist change, we have to remember that it has been an integral part of the histology profession since the beginning. The Godfather of Histology, Johannes Müller, would hardly recognize the scientific discipline he established in 1838. Since publishing On the Nature and Structural Characteristics of Cancer and of Those Morbid Growths Which May Be Confounded With It, we have seen the introduction of the use of microtomes ...
0 comments

Are You Making Time to Invest in Your Career?

By Ashley Stewart posted 08-08-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article When was the last time you prioritized learning something to help advance your career? If you're like most people, you probably can't remember. After all, work is busy, life is busy—and every day we're making decisions about how to spend our time. Should you pick up an extra shift or go grocery shopping? Stay late at work or keep your weekly date night? Carving out 30–60 minutes to learn a new career skill may not feel urgent today—but these are exactly the skills that can help elevate your role and your salary in the future. Even more importantly, the skills that make employees truly irreplaceable are often overlooked because they’re ...
0 comments

Remembering the Person Behind the Pieces of Tissue

By Ashley Stewart posted 07-25-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article We know that our work as histologists is an important part of patient care, and what we do can help doctors save lives. But since we’re not working directly with patients, sometimes we may not always remember that there’s a person behind every piece of tissue we handle. “I like how pathology plays such a vital role even though we’re generally behind the scenes—but with being behind the scenes, that comes with an increased likelihood of dissociating the patient from the specimen since we’re only working with small pieces of them,” said Tiffany Mainella, M. ED., HTL(ASCP), Education Coordinator for Digital Pathology at the ...
0 comments

CAP Made Competency Assessment a Tiny Bit Less… Confusing (Yes, really!)

By Ashley Stewart posted 07-11-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article If you’ve ever stared at the CAP personnel requirements wondering “Wait… who’s actually allowed to do competency assessments?” — you’re not alone. It’s a common headache in the world of lab compliance. But here’s the good news: CAP released an updated requirements checklist in December 2024. Some of the updates focus on who qualifies for key roles in the lab—and more importantly, who can assess competency for moderate- and high-complexity testing. Here are the two changes that could make life a little easier in your lab: General Supervisors Can Now Assess Both Testing Levels Under the old rule, general supervisors could ...
0 comments

The Role of Images in Research Reproducibility

By Ashley Stewart posted 07-10-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article Reproducibility has been a challenge in labs for a long time, and it can often undermine the hard work of researchers trying to build on previously-made discoveries. In order to address this issue, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) implemented standards for data management and sharing , which will ultimately impact the way histotechnologists work. “Basically investigators who submit NIH grants for funding must include some type of data management sharing plan, which is intended to free anyone to validate and replicate research findings,” explained Luis Chiriboga, PhD, HT(ASCP)QIHC, the Director Ex-Path IHC Laboratory ...
0 comments

The Role of Images in Research Reproducibility

By Ashley Stewart posted 06-27-2025
Be the first person to recommend this.
Listen to Article Reproducibility has been a challenge in labs for a long time, and it can often undermine the hard work of researchers trying to build on previously-made discoveries. In order to address this issue, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) implemented standards for data management and sharing , which will ultimately impact the way histotechnologists work. “Basically investigators who submit NIH grants for funding must include some type of data management sharing plan, which is intended to free anyone to validate and replicate research findings,” explained Luis Chiriboga, PhD, HT(ASCP)QIHC, the Director Ex-Path IHC Laboratory ...
0 comments