The medical laboratories in the state of Arizona are experiencing a shortage of qualified personnel, as evidenced by a recent Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association study. More medical laboratory technologists are also needed to provide the necessary workforce for the biotech and biosciences industry. The medical technology major provides UA students with an excellent choice for a challenging future career and should be continued.

Graduates with a major in medical technology have a number of career options. Medical technologists work in every hospital laboratory, most medical reference laboratories and many physician office labs. They analyze blood, body fluids and many other human-generated specimen. They can tell you if your loved one is having a heart attack or if that chest pain is due to the hot sauce from one of our Tucson restaurants.

The medical technologist can evaluate samples from your family members and tell you who is the most compatible to provide you a stem cell transplant. A medical technologist at a hospital in Florida sounded the alarm over anthrax in a major bioterrorist event. There are some 8,000 medical laboratory tests performed by them, ranging from simple blood glucose procedures to testing for genetic alterations.

The fact that a medical technologist (like a nurse or pharmacist) has a defined scope of practice and is immediately employable upon graduation is not a bad thing.

Besides working in a medical lab, there are other career paths one can choose with a degree in medical technology. I only have to reflect on the diverse choices of our graduates. Medical technologists are working at both the Department of Public Safety and Tucson Police Department crime labs. They are doing product development, quality assurance, sales, product installation, technical education and customer support at MISYS, a Tucson-based health care information company. Similar positions are available at Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott, Honeywell, Ventana Medical Systems, Sysmex and Beckman-Coulter, to name a few.

Medical technologists are working for the state Department of Health Services, doing regulatory inspections, testing for food-borne pathogens and monitoring sexually transmitted diseases. They are working in the medical school, doing research and telemedicine. They are working in the biotech/bioscience industry, as well as at the Food and Drug Administration. They are consultants, infection control officers, Medicare compliance officers, hospital administrators and food microbiologists.

Graduates from the UA Medical Technology program have gotten professional degrees in medicine, pharmacy, physician assistance, dentistry, optometry and osteopathy. They have completed graduate degrees in epidemiology, perfusion technology, public health, computer science, immunology, microbiology, molecular and cellular biology, transfusion medicine, education, business, communication, toxicology, forensics, nutrition, veterinary sciences, nurse practitioning, engineering, sports medicine and environmental health.

A student can finish a bachelor's of science in health sciences in medical technology in four years. From personal experience, I graduated from a program at Marquette University in Wisconsin. At Marquette, 16 to 18 units was considered a normal semester. I had 147 units, was a sorority president, member of the Pan Hellenic Council, served on the new student orientation board and was a student member of The American Society for Medical Technology. I worked 20-30 hours per week. To say you can't enjoy being a college student while getting a degree in medical technology in four years is just not true. It may take longer than four, but what degree at the UA doesn't take some students longer?

The Medical Technology program has also provided opportunities for graduates of other science majors. Through the certificate program, these students have completed the 16-month medical technology internship, qualified for national board exams and readily found jobs.

There are plenty of opportunities for career changes if you are a medical technology major. Again, I can speak from personal experience. I have worked in a clinical laboratory, done research, was the start-up lab manager at Northwest Medical Center, managed a physician office practice and now I teach. I will likely embark on a sixth career-change fairly soon. I do know people who have stayed at the same employer for 30 years. Some are happy, and some are not. There are many other people I know with other degrees who have worked 30 years in their field. Some are happy, and some are not.

I have been working for 30 years. I can honestly say that if I had the opportunity to go back, I would still major in medical technology. I enjoyed every job I ever had. My hope for all the students at the UA is that they find a field that provides a career as rich as mine.

Deborah Wyckoff is the interim director of the medical technology program, which is slated for elimination. She can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.