Laboratory Scientist Boasts Being First Black Person in Illinois To Hold A Doctorate In Clinical Laboratory Science
Laboratory Scientist Boasts Being First Black Person in Illinois To Hold A Doctorate In Clinical Laboratory Science
By Tia Carol Jones
Dr. RoDina Williams always loved the laboratory portion of her science courses. Now, she is the first Black person in Illinois to hold a doctorate in Clinical Laboratory Science.
When she found out that there was a profession for laboratory medicine, she decided to go through the program and fell in love with it. Williams received a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Illinois State University in 2002 and worked in the field for about five years. The career wasn’t feeding what she wanted to do, so she looked at the curriculum of different programs, and she fell upon medical laboratory sciences. She did her research, applied to the program and was accepted.
Williams graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Laboratory Science from Illinois State University in 2010 and worked at UI Health for a time, before receiving her Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2015. As a Certified Medical Laboratory Scientist, she knew she wanted to do more but wasn’t sure what that was. While taking continuing education classes at the American Society for Clinical Pathology, she found a podcast about a Doctorate in Clinical Laboratory Science (DCLS).
“I had no idea that there was a doctorate for what I love to do, and again, I applied and got in,” Williams said.
Clinical Laboratory Science or Medical Laboratory Science includes analyzing the materials that doctors, and health care workers send to the lab, it can be anything from glucose, blood cells, or figuring out the source of an infection. Williams said that getting a doctorate in clinical laboratory science meant she could come from outside of the lab and participate in patient healthcare; speaking with the patients to explain their lab results, why lab tests were ordered and how the specimens would be collected, was exciting to her. She wanted to be able to speak directly to the patients and explain to them what is going on in ways that they can understand.
Going into the medical laboratory field, Williams knew that there were not a lot of Black people or people of color in the field. Even when applying to the program, she wondered if anyone else in the state of Illinois had a degree in the field. She found out that there were only three other people in Illinois who either had the degree or were in other programs. When she found out that she was the first Black person in Illinois to hold a doctorate in Clinical Laboratory Science, she was surprised.
“To know that there aren’t very many of us in the field to begin with and then to have this weight on my shoulders to carry on laboratory science, it’s a heavy weight, but I’m proud to carry it, because it shows that it can be done,” she said.
Williams said that laboratory medicine is important and she can bring it to the forefront and show that Black people and people of color can do it, and that there are other options in the medical field than becoming a doctor or a nurse, and that people can pursue a doctorate in other types of medical fields.
Williams said there is a shortage of laboratory professionals, with Baby Boomers retiring and people going to other medical fields. She said there is a need for people to fill roles in laboratory science. As the Director of Health Sciences, Medical Laboratory Programs at Malcolm X College, Williams is helping to develop medical laboratory programs, bringing in people to teach the students what she learned along her journey, as well as the technical and theoretical aspects that are involved in the field.
She said that to be able to bring it to Malcolm X College, which is situated in the Medical District, it is a great thing. It is also a way for Williams to give back to her community, as someone who grew up in North Lawndale and graduated from Whitney Young High School.
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