The journey that led 27-year-old Raymond Hall to histotechnology started in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. As a little kid, he became nerdily obsessed with learning about dinosaurs after watching Jurassic Park, which remains his favorite film. He didn鈥檛 know what he wanted to do for work when he grew up, but he knew he liked the sciences.听
Hall attended Murray State University in Kentucky, a town, he says, placed in the middle of a cornfield. But when it came time to head to graduate school he took a very different route. When he stumbled upon 51仓库, he says, 鈥淢y first thought was, if I鈥檓 going to grad school and pay all that money, might was well go where the weather is nice.鈥澨�
He liked the sound of the histotechnology program, and after applying and interviewing, he headed south to tropical Miami Shores to pursue his master鈥檚 of science in clinical biology with a specialization in histotechnology.听听
鈥淕oing through a master鈥檚 program was incredibly beneficial for my career,鈥� he says. But getting his master鈥檚 wasn鈥檛 all easy. 鈥淚n undergrad, I didn鈥檛 have to focus on time management. I would just show up to class and go home. In grad school, I had to work full time while going to school full time. I had to manage my time and really grow up and figure out the first step of my life.鈥澨�
He was hired at the Memphis, Tennessee, location of the international veterinary diagnostic lab, Idexx Laboratories, before he graduated in August 2017.听
听鈥淛umping right into the workforce, I could tell that the education I got already was going to propel me higher than a lot of my peers,鈥� he says. Many in the field don鈥檛 have a formal histology education or they have a certificate and not a degree. His education helped him move up quickly in the ranks at work from bench technician to a leadership role as a certified laboratory Instructor. In this position, he provides employee training and quality control for his lab and works with a national team that standardizes lab practices for all of the company鈥檚 North American labs.听听
Hall shared a rundown of his typical day,听both as a technician and as a supervisor听in the histotechnology field.听
6:15 a:听Each morning, Hill wakes up to the ringing of his phone alarm. He gets up, feeds his dog, and lets her out. Then he showers and makes himself lunch as she plays with toys on the floor. Next, he鈥檚 on his way to work with a
40-minute commute into Memphis from the suburbs.听
8:00 a:听Hall greets his coworkers each morning and walks around the lab to get a feel for how the day will unfold. He鈥檚 looking to see, he says, 鈥渨hether we鈥檙e in a really good spot or we鈥檝e had a string of callouts and we鈥檙e going to have a really busy day.鈥� Then he spends from 20 minutes to an hour checking his emails from colleagues around the world.听听
10:00 a:听After the administrative aspects of the morning are complete, he again walks around lab to determine where he needs to be that day, 鈥渨hether that means I need to be on the bench or directing personnel where to go,鈥� he says. Along with lead techs and supervisors, he will move staff on the line around based on their strengths to optimize their overall performance. They have a lot of new hires and open positions, so Hill spends much of his time training, offering tips and tricks to incoming techs.听
In his old role on the bench, Hall would check in with his supervisor to see where he was most needed, at the dissection bench, in micronomy, embedding, or quality control. Then he鈥檇 go straight in and, he says, 鈥渒nock the work out.鈥� At Idexx, they work in small batches but with a constant workflow. There is a lot of tissue to process and something always is in motion. They work on tiny tissue samples, whole organ biopsies, and even necropsies on dead animal parts. At the end of each run, which lasts one and a half hours, someone needs to be ready to receive cassettes off the processor, embed them right away, and hand them off to the micronomist to cut. He says it鈥檚 the same work being done at labs that work with human tissue, except, 鈥渢he hair鈥檚 usually a little thicker.鈥澨�
11:30 a:听While some take an hour lunch, Hall quickly eats his sandwich, chips, and Reeses cup in 30 minutes then heads back to work.听听
12:00 p:听At noon, there鈥檚 a shift change at the lab. For that, he meets with the incoming lead technicians and supervisors to give them a rundown of how the morning went and where they are most needed.听
1:00 p:听In the afternoon, he reviews and prioritizes a pending list of cases that must be completed that day. Hall spends the afternoon handing them off to techs and ensuring they are completed.听 听听
2:00 p:听Hall then meets with his lab manager or has a call with the team of those working in his same position across North America. They have a short meeting on how the day and week are going and how to better standardize processes in all labs. Traveling to implement standardization of systems at Idexx鈥檚 labs internationally is also an important part of his job.听
4:00 p:听Before he leaves work, he finds out if anyone needs help on the floor and then heads home in rush hour traffic.听
5:15 p:听Finally home, Hall plays with his dog and hangs with his fiance. 鈥淯sually, my wonderful fiance will have dinner ready or we鈥檒l cook together or eat out,鈥� he says. She鈥檚 a nurse who might work a night shift.听
10:00 p:听Hall is in bed, ready to get some rest by 10 p.m. Maybe not a typical day for most, but for Hall, it鈥檚 a satisfying one that gives him great purpose.
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