Leading by Example: Karen and Ashley Etter, Mother / Daughter Laboratory Supervisors

When Karen Etter, MBA, MT (ASCP), a clinical laboratory supervisor, set out on the path that would lead to her becoming a clinical laboratory supervisor over 37 years ago, she didn’t imagine any of her children might follow a similar path. As “hands on” as she is in her work, she was “hands off” in allowing her kids to follow their own passions without pressure.

Though Karen didn’t push her daughter Ashley Etter, MLS (ASCP), toward laboratory medicine, Ashley grew up listening to her mother’s stories about work and even making some visits to her mother’s workplace before she ultimately chose a similar career path. Ashley is now Regional Laboratory Clinical Supervisor for six different clinic laboratories with HealthPartners in Minnesota.

Though Karen has spent 25 of her 37 years in laboratory medicine with Lakeview Hospital in Minnesota, her journey to becoming a clinical laboratory supervisor was not a straight one.

“I originally went to school for pre-med, like a lot of us,” Karen says. But a challenging microbiology class and the guidance of a counselor led her down a different path—one that ultimately stuck. “I really loved the lab work part and the anatomy class that year. I was like, oh, this is fascinating. I'd rather poke around with specimens and parts than people,” she says.

For Ashley, the influence may have been laid by her mother’s work, but it was a “really, really good science teacher” in the eighth grade who made the subject so fun and interesting it moved her to consider pursuing a career in the sciences, she says.

Soon, she was tagging along on Karen’s overnight shifts and getting a glimpse into the actual workings of laboratory environments well before college. “She would basically set me up with things like students would get,” Ashley recalls. “I was able to work with the microscopes and stuff very early on and she’d give me cool samples to look at.”

The impact of hands-on experience

That hands-on practice early on made a dramatic impact. Ashley has carved out a career that is now 11 years and running, with experience in hematology, urinalysis, coagulation, and bone marrow biopsies, to name a few areas. Though her mother always encouraged her, she says Karen never pushed her into the field. Better yet, Ashley’s mother was one of a few people who could understand what she was going through when she was in school and she frequently turned to her for support, her very own sounding board.

“It was very nice to be able to call her up and be like, have you ever dealt with this?” Ashley says. “It was super helpful that I was able to call her in the middle of the night because she was working the night shift when I was stuck on a problem.”

Both women have built long, stable careers in the field due to an attribute they have in common. “We’re both go-getters,” says Karen. “So we’ve also moved from bench tech to lead techs to supervisors so that it changes enough to keep you busy and interested.”

Ashley has enjoyed being able to find her own way within the field. “The field has enough diversity in it that you can continue to learn and do more,” she says. However, leadership was always a goal. “I always wanted to be that advocate for other staff.”

While they don’t work at the same location, they do occasionally cross paths professionally through technical teams within HealthPartners. “We are on the ambulatory technical team,” Karen explains. “So we get to collaborate on that sometimes.”

Witnessing changes in the field

Both women have now been in the field long enough to see significant changes, particularly in technology and administration. “The new technology that’s come across—smaller sample sizes with better testing and chemistries, the PCR test—that was a huge change and improvement,” Karen says.

Ashley has found that working in both hospital and clinic settings has broadened her understanding of the field’s complexity. “A clinic lab setting is a totally different beast. So that surprised me a lot.”

For those considering following a family member into pathology or laboratory medicine, Karen offers this advice: “Just guide ’em. Don’t lead ’em by the nose….” The key is to offer support but not pressure. For the Etters, that approach has not only worked, it has also helped shape two fulfilling careers and a shared professional bond.