Sarah Elam

“This isn’t a field for someone who wants instant gratification, ” says Sarah Elam, a Cytoprep Lab Technician with Aurora Diagnostics/Bernhardt Laboratories.

Sarah grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas. At 19, she obtained a position as a medical receptionist for a clinic specializing in cardiology that housed seven cardiologists including two electrophysiologists. This change from working in her family’s retail store allowed her to help people in a new way and sparked her interest in clinical medicine.

Sarah obtained EKG and Phlebotomy certifications while continuing to work in Medical Scribing, which helped solidify her ultimate goal of being a physician. By transcribing everything a doctor says and does, she applied what she learned about medical terminology from her receptionist role.

When looking at additional educational pursuits, Sarah was drawn to Keiser University’s Jacksonville campus for the Biomedical Science program. The program outline worked with her schedule. Its accelerated approach provided rigorous but manageable coursework allowing students to focus on one subject at a time in a small classroom environment. Sarah notes, “Biomedicine is an emerging field. Taking courses such as Biology of Cancer and Genetics were interesting and necessary. This degree can lead to pre-med or allow a person to branch off into so many aspects, like research, physician’s assistant, and anesthesiology.”

After graduating from Keiser University with a BS in Biomedical Science in 2019, Sarah chose to continue her education at the University of Florida to obtain her Master of Science in Microbiology and Biochemistry. Ultimately, Sarah hopes this degree will give her an edge when applying for and succeeding in medical school. Her ideal choice for medical school is Jacksonville’s Mayo Clinic. Regarding the discipline involved in pursuing one’s education, Sarah states, “Do not procrastinate. Find a good support group that you can rely on to keep you accountable whether it be a professor, a family member, or friends.”

While pursuing her studies, Sarah works a night shift at Aurora Diagnostics/Bernhardt laboratories. Her lab technician role involves preparing and staining slides containing women’s health samples for microscopic evaluation. These results allow physicians to diagnose patients. Sarah also maintains quality control of the stains, reagents, and instruments used while processing specimens.

Successful lab technicians are self-starters who can prioritize and think critically about steps or processes to follow, according to Sarah. She indicates that a tech needs to be able to think about an entire workflow plan to complete processing of samples, which range from 200-800 daily.

Sarah’s career course has evolved over time, as well as her reasons for being so passionate about the field. She says, “Initially, I wanted to learn and help people. That’s still true, but it goes deeper than that. Pursuing healthcare has enabled me to experience a vast amount of personal growth that I could not fathom in any other field. I do not see this as a job, but as a lifestyle.”