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As a high school student, Anthony Kurec, MS, MASCP, MLT, H(ASCP)DLM, enjoyed general and advanced biology. While guidance counseling in those days mostly focused on student disciplinary issues, rather than addressing advanced education opportunities, it was while thumbing through college pamphlets and catalogs that Mr. Kurec discovered “medical technology.” To him, it felt like a natural fit, and started him on the pathway toward his laboratory career.  

Here, Mr. Kurec answers three questions (and a bonus!) about his involvement in the profession and more.  

How did you first get involved with ASCP? What (or perhaps who) encouraged you to become a volunteer?  

I had an excellent mentor, Betty Martin, an ASCP leader in many ways. She knew I was interested in learning more and encouraged me to maintain my ASCP membership and when opportunities arose, to get involved. My first encounter was participating as a state advisor for the Northeast region, Associate Member section. Shortly thereafter, Betty appointed me as the management section editor for Check Sample. That began my writing career and other opportunities to lecture on a national level. I spent the next decade or so on various committees: AMS Awards Committee, Laboratory Management University (LMU), Workshop & On-Demand Webcast Committee (WOW), and Council of Laboratory Professionals. Betty also suggested I get involved with the Clinical Laboratory Management Association (CLMA), which is now part of ASCP. I was elected to the Board of Directors for CLMA and eventually became president. Through ASCP and CLMA, I made a lot of connections in developing a network of experienced and very smart individuals who served as mentors. 

What strategies or methods have you found most effective for teaching others about laboratory medicine, particularly those without a science background?  

In the last few years, I have been involved in a program called P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School). It’s a six-year program that begins in 9th grade and continues into the first two years of college. High school students know what doctors and nurses are but have minimal if any knowledge of other healthcare programs, particularly the laboratory. P-TECH is a great program that introduces them to healthcare sciences as a profession. This program is funded through federal and state government agencies, colleges, and employers (including hospitals) who are seeking to fill the many job vacancies. When students graduate from high school, they have one full semester of college behind them thus graduate from a two-year college earlier, with a number of them transferring to a four-year program and beyond. P-TECH serves students from primarily underserved backgrounds, allowing them the opportunity to attend college, with support, who otherwise may not have done so.  

Can you share a moment when you felt especially connected to patient care through your work?  

Many years ago, when I started working in hematology, I was assigned with several others to draw blood from Peds. There was one young girl about six or so who had acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). She bravely put out her arm and let me draw her without any crying, screaming, or other antics, which we often encountered with other children and even some adults. At that point, I truly appreciated and understood what we, as laboratory professionals, do and the impact we have on patient care. The stoic attitude she presented left a lasting impression, something many adults could learn. I particularly remember that incident because my youngest brother also had ALL and passed a few months after diagnosis. He, too, was very brave and did what he had to. We can learn a lot from these young ones. 

I have given a lecture and have written on communication and publishing. One of the key things I point out is that any article that gets published in a peer-reviewed journal is something that will be part of the author’s legacy — in an archive forever (especially these days with the internet). Such articles are distributed not only in the U.S., but often internationally, often, with reprint requests from many different countries. This tells me there is interest in what has been written, and that if they learned only one thing, then it was worth taking the time to write it. If one strives to be a leader, gaining credibility is crucial and publishing contributes to that, leaving a legacy that co-workers, family, and friends can see many years later.