Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Celebrates 2021 Laboratory Professionals Week
MSK Colleague in lab cat
MSK Colleague in scrubs and apron sat by computers
MSK colleague using a microscope
MSK colleague in lab coat sat by computers
This week, Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) is celebrating Laboratory Professionals Week, an annual opportunity to highlight the critical role that medical laboratory professionals and pathologists play in delivering world-class care for patients with cancer.
At no time was the extraordinary ability and professionalism of MSK’s lab staff more evident than during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the challenges of COVID-19 and the need to move as many employees to remote work as possible, the Pathology Department modified digital technology previously used only for research purposes so it could be applied to remote patient care, enabling many pathologists to diagnose patients from home and ensure that patient care continued without interruption.
“COVID was a truly unprecedented challenge,” says David Klimstra, Chair of the Department of Pathology. “I was astonished at the speed, expertise, and adaptability that Pathology staff demonstrated. They were integral to MSK’s ability to care for patients, even during the worst months of the pandemic.”
Laboratory Medicine was pivotal in enabling testing for COVID-19 early on, implementing one of the first lab-developed COVID-19 PCR tests in New York State in March 2020. The Department also developed six different tests to detect COVID-19 from three different specimen types, collected more than 360 units of convalescent COVID plasma and, as of April 12, 2021, had analyzed more than 270,000 SARS-CoV-2 RNA tests and more than 46,000 SARS-CoV-2 anti-N antibody tests.
“I knew the Lab Medicine staff was exceptional, but their achievements over the past year took my breath away,” says Melissa Pessin, Chair, Department of Laboratory Medicine. “I am forever grateful for their determination to do what was necessary to meet the demands of COVID-19 and deliver the best patient care.”
Of course, staff working in Pathology and Lab Medicine are vital to patient care every day, all year long.
“Our laboratory personnel did a spectacular job taking us through the pandemic,” says Lisa DeAngelis, Physician-in-Chief. “But COVID-19 was just an extreme example of the excellence they bring to MSK every day. They are an amazingly committed group of employees who are critical to our standing as the world’s leading cancer center.”
To all those who work in a lab at MSK, thank you for your dedicated work, your innovative approach to all things, and your unshakeable commitment to our patients.