Hail and Farewell

As this is the end of my term as Editor-in-Chief, I thought I would spend a little time thanking the people who got me to the position. Since I truly believe that you cannot know where you are going without knowing where you have been, this will include some longtime lore. I want to start by thanking the people who taught me that professionalism does not start and stop with test tubes and slides. Sister Aloysia, my Education Coordinator, brought me to a Massachusetts Senate hearing on a bill to grant licensure to our profession. It didn't pass and I realized that there were people in the world who did not respect what I did. I couldn't understand why. Another person of influence was Roma Brown who became President of then ASMT, and obeyed a subpoena from Congress. She was rewarded by being fired from her Kansas laboratory. She and several other presidents and leaders engaged in a multi-year set of lawsuits about the independence of the profession. Each suit was settled in ASMT's favor and the rulings were based upon the 13th, 14th, and 16th Amendments (the anti-slavery amendments) to the US Constitution. These actions reinforced my belief that, in addition to knowledge and skill, action is a necessary criterion for a professional. Jean Shafer of New York was a world-class hematologist in the clinical laboratory. She taught both medical laboratory science students and residents. She convinced me that our field did indeed encompass patient care and treatment. Perhaps…