Family Ties: How a mother’s legacy in pathology inspired a career in the laboratory. A Q&A with Courtney Jackson, MD

Courtney Jackson, MD, is a pathologist at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Jackson graciously offered to share her family ties to pathology and laboratory medicine with Critical Values.

Dr. Jackson’s mother, Ann Long Jackson, MD, graduated from Tulane Medical School in 1956, went on to establish a solo pathology practice in Louisiana, and opened laboratories at St. Joseph Hospital in 1962 and at Thibodaux General, where she worked until her retirement in 2006. Dr. Ann Jackson was a pioneer for women in medicine, a practicing pathologist at a time when less than 6 percent of incoming medical students were women, according to the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). Dr. Ann Jackson passed away at the age of 93 in February 2025.

Here, Dr. Courtney Jackson discusses the impact her mother’s pioneering career in pathology had on her own career pathway, ultimately leading her to a career in pathology and laboratory medicine. ^*

Critical Values (CV): How did growing up with a mother in this field shape your understanding of the work?

Courtney Jackson (CJ): I grew up the youngest of six in a small town with less than 20,000 people. My mother was the first of only a few women physicians in town. I knew there was something different about her. Not only did she work full-time, but she was also the only pathologist in town during that time, and she was very highly respected for her work.

When I got to preschool, my mother switched her schedule because there was no aftercare or childcare. She would pick me up from preschool and bring me to her grossing lab. I would sit on a stool next to her and help by opening the contents of the plastic specimen bags and placing a requisition form next to them. That time was a true gift in that I got to experience what was happening in her lab, even though I did not understand any of it.

CV: When did you realize you wanted to pursue a career in pathology or laboratory medicine?

CJ: I took the long way around. About halfway into a hematology-oncology fellowship, I realized I liked the diagnosis side more than the therapy side.

I remember spending a lot of time discussing different career pathways and fields with my mother. Pathology worked out best, and I was fortunate that I understood what pathologists do because of her.

CV: Did your mother share how she felt when you decided to follow her career in pathology?

CJ: When I told her I decided to pursue pathology, she was ecstatic, extremely excited. She had six children. Four became physicians. But I’m the only one who followed my mother into pathology.

CV: What’s something about the field that surprised you once you started working in it?

CJ: The management side of the field [laboratory medicine] isn’t easy to teach. One of the things my mother shared was the importance of creating a team, making friends with everybody who works in the lab – the maintenance team, the IT and tech professionals, everyone. By valuing what everyone does, everyone’s job, you are better prepared and able to do your job.

CV: How did your mother’s practice impact your career in laboratory medicine and pathology?

CJ: She helped me understand the role we [pathologists, laboratory medicine professionals] have in the big picture. While our practices were very different—she practiced in a solitary, solo practice, whereas I practice in a large group laboratory of almost 40 pathologists on staff—I learned the importance of developing relationships with clinical colleagues and laboratory staff. I didn’t realize just how close she was with her employees, the lab professionals and support staff.

I make a special effort to get to know the employees who work with us and emphasize the importance of being a team. That comes from her.

CV: How did your relationship with your mother evolve over time when you were both adults in the same profession?

CJ: It was definitely a turning point for us; it was very revealing and magical for me. She told me about her fears when she was practicing, how to manage practice, difficult cases, and when someone in a small town calls you with questions.

I had someone to go to when something was really worrying me. Her influence was so helpful, very practical, and very honest. We are all human, but we aren’t trained to manage those feelings. She used to say that if I was still talking about and worrying over a case for three days, that is when I should get a second opinion. That was dubbed ‘The Ann Jackson Rule’ by a colleague of mine.

CV: Did the advice or guidance she gave you evolve over the course of your career?

She told me stories and shared advice from her years of practicing pathology, particularly in a small town. I learned early on that she had close relationships with the physicians in town because she interacted with them on a daily basis.

My mom always kept a rocking chair in her office, opposite her desk. She gave it to me for my first office, telling me, “You need this when surgeons come into your office and start ‘yelling’ at you. They will sit in the chair opposite your desk and start rocking. The rocking will slowly calm them.” And it works!

I gave my mom the rocking chair back when she started suffering from dementia. A few of my work colleagues have been asking about it and now that I can get it back, I am trying to see where the rocking chair fits best in my current office.

^*This interview has been edited for clarity and length.