During his last semester of college, Jonathan Chen, MHS, PA(ASCP), took a cancer biology course. While he was fascinated by the content, he knew he didn’t want to go into research. It was as he was exploring his options that he shadowed a pathologists’ assistant at the NIH, observed his first autopsy, and came across what excited him the most: the surgical pathology laboratory. 

“I had no idea that this part of laboratory medicine existed,” Mr. Chen says. “I was completely fascinated watching the PA gross in a wide variety of specimens like thyroids, prostates, colons, and kidneys, and covering frozen sections when the surgeons would walk in with a specimen that needed an intraoperative consultation.” Drawn to the fast-paced nature of surgical pathology, he knew this was where he was meant to be. 

Here, Mr. Chen shares more about what motivates him, his favorite test to perform, and more in this issue of 3 Questions (and a bonus!). 

Have you had any mentors or role models who have influenced your career choice? If so, how have they impacted your journey? 

Before attending pathologists’ assistant (PA) school, I worked as a grossing technician at a small private pathology laboratory, and I would say the entire team at Integrated Cellular & Molecular Diagnostics played a huge role in paving my way to becoming a PA. It was at this lab that I got my first introduction to laboratory medicine, and I was able to see the entire pathology process from start to finish: from grossing biopsies to observing the histotechs embed and cut paraffin blocks, to looking at the slides with the pathologists during sign-out. This is where I learned basic grossing skills from the pathologists and laboratory director and also learned how to work on a team with the other histotechs and pathologists. I’m forever grateful to the staff for hiring me right after graduation from college and giving me this opportunity.

What is your favorite test to perform and why?

My favorite test to perform is the gross examination of head and neck and bone/soft tissue cancer specimens because there’s so much specimen type diversity within these two subspecialties. For head and neck pathology, there are a wide variety of organs and structures within this small complex anatomic space, ranging from simple resections like thyroids, salivary glands, and tonsils, to more complex resections like laryngectomy, mandibulectomy, and orbital exenterations. Bone/soft tissue pathology is also similar, where we can get the typical long bone resection for osteosarcoma, but also get hemipelvectomies for chondrosarcomas, various retroperitoneal sarcomas with multi-organ en bloc resections, and all the soft tissue sarcomas in the different compartments of the body. I really enjoy the diversity of specimens within these two subspecialties, and I also enjoy the challenge of identifying all the necessary anatomic structures, assessing margins, identifying invasion into components, and finally the technical challenge of sectioning the bone specimens on the bone saw. 

What motivates you in your role, knowing that your results influence a patient’s diagnosis and treatment? 

What motivates me is knowing that my job as a pathologists’ assistant can have very important (sometimes high stakes) implications for the patient’s diagnosis and treatment. Our job is super important because there are even some errors that our pathologists can’t fix but has implications on patient outcome down the road. A common example of this is submitting an “en face” margin when the tumor is close, and it should have been submitted as a perpendicular margin instead, and now the “en face” margin is microscopically positive. Does this mean that this margin is actually positive or is this is a false positive margin?  Not only can this cause a huge headache for the pathologist, but this can have a significant impact on the patient’s prognosis and follow-up treatment. There’s a saying in the PA circle, “treat every specimen as if it were your own (or your family member’s or friend’s specimen)”, and I always keep this in mind when approaching every specimen that comes across my board – that this is someone’s specimen and how I gross it can have important implications for the patient down the road. That’s what motivates me to do right by the patient for every specimen.

How do you approach difficult cases where the results could have a life-changing impact on a patient? 

The majority of the difficult specimens that I encounter are specimens that are received disrupted and unoriented, and I’m unable to understand the specimen orientation even after reviewing the imaging and the operative note. This is when I will call the surgeon to come down to the gross room to review the specimen with me. This is important to do because the surgeon knows best how the specimen is oriented, knows which defects are true defects vs artefactual, and knows which margins are truly grossly positive. We never want to assume anything or guess how the specimen should be oriented, because this has high-stakes implications for the patient down the road for follow-up treatment. This is why working closely and collaborating with our surgeons is so important for patient care. 

CDC OneLab^TM is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) initiative to unify medical and public health laboratory professionals and testers into a community of practice. The initiative was driven by the need for stronger shared dialogue, best practices, and a centralized education hub for free high-quality training resources designed for the testing community. This initiative further sought to dismantle operational silos and subject matter gaps observed during the COVID-19 pandemic to better prepare for and coordinate laboratory testing services in the event of a future public health emergency.

In April 2022, the CDC issued a funding opportunity to laboratory partners interested in bridging these gaps through the CDC OneLab initiative, supported through a three-year federal cooperative agreement grant. ASCP was uniquely positioned to respond to this funding opportunity due to the breadth and depth of its member base of medical laboratory professionals, as well as its member-driven pulse on laboratory training and workforce development gaps, which could serve as critical drivers of laboratory education and resource development. As such, the CDC awarded the ASCP with one of the four federal grants issued in service of CDC OneLab^TM in September 2022. The other three recipients of the three-year award were: the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (ASCLS), the University of Maryland, and the New York City Department of Public Health.

Over the three-year CDC OneLab^TM grant period and with more than $1M in federal awards, ASCP was able to advance key laboratory workforce projects, guided by five member committees, including the Workforce Steering Committee, the Council of Laboratory Professionals, the Council on Laboratory Management and Administration, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Committee, and the Curriculum and Educational Resource- Scientific Advisory Council. More than 100 ASCP members served as distinguished subject matter experts (SMEs) in the efforts to develop key resources and activities in service of the CDC OneLab Initiative.   

Since their launch, the 10 eLearning activities developed by ASCP have collectively engaged more than 50,000 learners. All resources developed through this grant are freely available on ASCP’s grant resource website here.

Scholarships

ASCP launched the Dr. Alvin Ring Empowerment Scholarship for Laboratory Professionals in 2024 to provide financial support to students from rural communities pursuing medical laboratory education in NAACLS-accredited laboratory science programs. ASCP leveraged $106,000 in CDC OneLab^TM grant funds, in addition to a combinatorial strategy for outreach, to directly support tuition and needs-based expenses for 26 scholars (9 MLT, 17 MLS). The distribution of scholars spanned a wide range of candidates including: 3 high school students (interested in starting their lab science education), 14 current laboratory science students (not yet in the lab workforce), 3 non-laboratory science students starting laboratory science programs, 6 laboratory science students (who are working laboratory professionals).

eLearning courses

Through this federal grant, ASCP developed ten free eLearning courses, for which CME and/or CMLE credit was available. Eight of these courses will remain freely available on ASCP’s LMS for three years, and two have since retired.  Two of these enduring courses were designed as case-based eLearning courses for the specific training needs of in-service lab team members, while six free eLearning courses were developed as a part of the ASCP Basic Medical Laboratory Skills training series (each course structured independently and offering 1.0 CMLE credits).

Case-Based eLearning Courses for Laboratory Professionals

Engagement Impact: At grant closeout, over 26,000 learners have engaged with these two eLearning courses.

The purpose of the ASCP Basic Medical Laboratory Skills eLearning series, designed by a team of ASCP member volunteers, is to empower new laboratory hires (with minimal existing medical laboratory training) with the foundational skills and knowledge needed to work in a medical laboratory practice setting. The training intends to simultaneously reduce laboratory leadership’s burden for directing on-the-job training through didactic level-setting of applied medical laboratory concepts, including Laboratory Safety, Laboratory Terminology, Laboratory Math, Basic Operations of Laboratory Equipment, Routine Procedures, and Quality Control.
“One of our staff members did an educational activity through the ASCP website and was very impressed with the content of it,” says Jeriel Hess, a member of the CCL/CSL Education Specialist Team at Mayo Clinic – Rochester.

“Recently, due to the shortage of MLS graduates, our lab has turned to hiring non-MLS science related degrees. Many have little to no lab experience, and so we conduct a ‘Lab Basics’ course with them during their New Employee Orientation week. It's not a perfect course by any means, but it does a decent job of filling a need. However, the [ASCP Basic Medical Lab Skills: Lab Terminology course] my colleague discovered on your website does a more comprehensive job of covering the laboratory/hospital basics our new staff desperately need.” 

While the primary intended target audience of the ASCP Basic Medical Laboratory Skills training series is new hires to the medical laboratory, this series would also be an excellent resource to supplement existing medical laboratory training programs, refresh former lab scientists considering re-entering the workforce after a gap period, build language confidence in basic laboratory concepts for non-native English speakers, orient other members of the patient care team about the laboratory, as well as other applications. At the time of grant closeout, after only three months online, these six eLearning courses engaged nearly 17,000 learners combined.

Practical job aids

ASCP designed, developed, and leveraged existing concise, practical job aids and tools for specific member-derived needs. Over the course of this three-year period, 160+ resources have been made freely available on the ASCP’s Support for CDC OneLab Initiative website or through one of its key deliverables, the ASCP Negotiation & Advocacy Toolbox.

The Negotiation & Advocacy Toolbox was pioneered by ASCP member volunteers, Ihab Abumuhor, MSHCA, MSCS, MLS(ASCP)SBB^CM​, Christy Nickel, MHA, MLS(ASCP)^CM, CPHQ​, and Aaron Odegard, MS, MLS(ASCP)^CMSM^CMQLS. This digital toolbox features 140+ adaptable tools, templates, presentations, and strategies to help laboratory leaders advocate effectively to decision-makers such as hospital administrators and C-suite executives. Interactive events like the ASCP Amazing Lab Race have supported awareness and implementation of these resources. ASCP invites members to contribute by: 1) sharing new resources for inclusion in the Toolbox, or 2) highlighting successful implementations to amplify lab success stories

As job aids are a fast, portable means for educational upskilling, ASCP has also generated job aids on a number of topics based on medical laboratory professional interests, including (but not limited to) the following.

Laboratory Resources Overview 

Laboratory community building

The CDC OneLab Initiative was born out of the need for stronger unity and collaboration within the medical and public health laboratory communities. ASCP set out to develop the Building Bridges Across the Laboratory Community (colloquially called: Building Bridges) webinar series designed to be wholly inclusive to the greater laboratory community – across a range of laboratory positions and practice settings.

Launched in February of 2023, over the three-year grant period Building Bridges tackled three key topic areas: 1) the power of partnership to solve big laboratory workforce challenges, 2) highlighting the diverse array of laboratory professions, and 3) professional development opportunities for laboratory scientists. The webinars employed case studies, panel-based discussions, and an interactive question and answer session to tackle wide-ranging topics including: Using Wastewater Surveillance to Understand Infectious Disease Trends, Twinning & Sharing Best Practices: Regional Partnerships, International Lab Scientists Practicing in the US., among many others. Each session was recorded with the recorded video, slide deck, and summary report publicly available after each session. All webinars remain freely available on our grant website (2025 series, 2024 series, 2023 series).

Building Bridges engaged strong partners in the CDC and the Association for Public Health Laboratories (APHL) to help design a robust curriculum and a diverse target audience across scientific disciplines and sectors, including academic medical centers or hospital laboratories, private clinic or hospital laboratories, academic institutions or research laboratories, state or federal public health laboratories, industry, commercial reference laboratories, and more. While the majority of attendees identified as medical laboratory scientists (42 percent, 2025 series), laboratory managers, supervisors, directors, and undergraduate-level laboratory science program educators also well-represented in the 2025 webinar series.

Unique attendees (excluding ASCP and CDC staffers) totaled over 1,390 across 49 countries, with 54 percent of attendees (participating in evaluations) having participated in more than one webinar in the six-part 2025 series. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of attendees were in the U.S., followed by the Philippines (11 percent), and Kenya (4 percent). While the majority of evaluation respondents were already members of the current laboratory workforce, 85 percent reported that the series introduced them to new career opportunities, and 59 percent indicated that they became interested in a new career path through the webinar series. Only 46 total evaluation respondents reported that they were neither currently nor previously in the laboratory workforce, but 72 percent of these individuals (33) indicated that the webinars interested them in pursuing a laboratory career.

The Building Bridges series has been lauded as a model of interactive and inclusive laboratory community building, achieving its goal of centering shared dialogue on collaboration, elevating the visibility of the laboratory profession, and what we love about being laboratory scientists – discovery in service of patients. ASCP will continue to design and host the series in 2026, where the central theme will focus on communicating about our profession. More information will be shared on ASCP’s Workforce Initiatives website as registration opens for the series.

Maintaining momentum

The ASCP Laboratory Workforce Steering Committee, an essential guide in shaping these activities, will continue to advance many projects made possible through this grant. ASCP intends to continue to bring awareness of these materials to its members to expand the reach of these resources to the widest scope. The CDC will also directly cross-promote a number of ASCP’s grant-funded products through their communication channels and partners. ASCP has also shared these key resources widely with the Medical and Public Health Laboratory Coalition, as well as other laboratory stakeholders including laboratory science training program directors, students, educators, laboratory directors and administrators, and more.

If you haven’t done so already, it’s not too late to join the OneLab Network today to engage with your peers and access resources on topics like safety, quality, preparedness, diagnostic testing, core science, and informatics that your laboratory can use today. ASCP members have embraced the CDC OneLab VR^TM portfolio of virtual reality (VR) laboratory training scenarios. These short, interactive VR scenarios are perfect for those exploring laboratory career paths, refreshing skills, and gaining new skills in a safe and controlled environment.

This high-visibility grant offered ASCP an opportunity to show the laboratory community what we can do, working together, with just over $1M in federal funds. It provided a funded channel for ASCP members, committees, and staff to work in tandem, identifying and reporting on critical laboratory workforce and training needs, designing and developing educational resources across a variety of interactive modalities, and engaging partners and colleagues to reinforce networks of collaboration across laboratory sectors and communities. The strength of this collective effort will continue to be demonstrated in the reach of its materials and leveraged as a model for future partnership efforts in service of elevating the laboratory profession.

This project was supported by Cooperative Agreement number CDC-RFA-OE22-2202 (CFDA No. 93.322), funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the American Society for Clinical Pathology and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Health and Human Services. This project was 100% funded with federal funds to the American Society for Clinical Pathology (NU47OE000107).

As a forensic pathologist, Theodore Brown, MD, FASCP, feels he serves patients like any other physician.

The only difference is that his patients are no longer living.

As Director and Chief Medical Examiner for the Department of Public Safety, Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, Dr. Brown describes his role as understanding how a patient died, and telling their story with accuracy, dignity, and compassion, a responsibility that extends far beyond the autopsy table. It may mean guiding grieving families through difficult moments, supporting law enforcement and the justice system in pursuit of accountability, or partnering with public health and safety champions to prevent future tragedies.

Here, Dr. Brown shares his thoughts on challenges in forensic pathology, lessons learned, and the impact he hopes to make. An impact which, he says, “lies in transforming loss into healing, accountability, and future change to improve the lives of those in the communities we get to serve.”

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your field, particularly when it comes to supporting patient care?

Our greatest challenge is the critical shortage of forensic pathologists – only about 800 full-time forensic pathologists are practicing in the United States, far below what is needed to meet the rising demand for timely, high-quality medicolegal death investigations.

But with every challenge comes opportunity. Across the country, we are working to build interest in forensic pathology early and creating stronger pipelines through mentorship and training. At ASCP and in Arkansas, we have developed programs and created experiences that immerse learners in forensic pathology, public health, public safety, and public service.

I am especially proud of our new forensic pathology fellowship program in Arkansas. Our first fellow, Dr. Lance Truong, recently described our daily case conferences as “the art of forensic pathology.” That moment reminded me that what we are building is not just a training program – it is a future for the field, and better care for every patient and community we serve.

What are some of the lessons you’ve learned through the different volunteer roles you’ve taken on, in or out of ASCP?

The most valuable lesson I have learned is the power of showing up. Being present, listening with intention, and staying open to new perspectives have made me a stronger physician, mentor, and leader. 

I have had the privilege of working alongside champions who lead through service. One of them is Dr. Kamran Mirza, whose encouragement helped me find my voice in new and meaningful ways. His example inspired me to write the op-ed, “A Critical Shortage: Forensic Pathology Is Primary Care Medicine” – something I may never have done without his support. That experience reminded me that leadership is also about lifting others so they can become their best.

Whether it is a conversation in a hallway, a quiet moment checking in with a colleague, or a spark during a conference with another attendee, I have found that these brief and meaningful interactions often create the biggest impact. I hope that by showing up for others, I have helped them feel supported and empowered, just as so many have done for me. 

What impact do you hope to make through your work in this field?

I recently read Unshakeable: Building a Life of Virtue in a World of Chaos by Father Mike Schmitz, and one message deeply resonated with me: Live your life for your eulogy, not your résumé.

That is how I try to approach everything I do. Whether I am performing an autopsy, mentoring a learner, empowering a team member, serving on a review team, or contributing to a policy discussion, I aim to lead with humility, empathy, and a heart for service. My impact, I hope, will be measured by the lives I have positively influenced – grieving families who received answers, team members and learners who felt like they belonged, and communities made safer, stronger, and healthier through support, collaboration, and advocacy.

I have learned from the Arkansas Secretary of Public Safety and Director of Arkansas State Police, Colonel Mike Hagar, that, especially when the stakes are highest, our calling to serve those who need us most is to “find a way to yes.” That mindset – saying yes to those who entrust us with their care – is the spirit I strive to carry forward every day.