Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight!
A great man. I was lucky to know you. People like you retire from a job, but not from the histology field. Izak Dimenstein Sent from my iPad > On Sep 9, 2021, at 12:26, Morken, Timothy wrote: > > > After 40 years in the lab I've decided to retire this year - in a week > actually! > > It has been an interesting 4 decades... > > I started out in an EM lab after getting a degree in Physiology and then > competing a 2 year EM course at Delta College in Stockton, CA - the only > dedicated EM program at that time. I started out running a scanning EM lab > for an electronics company looking at microchips but after a couple years > moved to a hosptial lab in Fresno, CA running their EM lab. I was the only > one, so from day one was the "Manager" of the lab! I did about 150 EM cases a > year and in those days it was a mix of kidney and tumor cases - there was no > IHC yet so some tumor diagnostics depended on EM. I did not have quite enough > work to keep me busy so I started hanging out in the histology lab. As with > many people in this field the day I started working there was the first I had > heard of "histology." At first it was helping set up grossing, coverslipping > slides and doing immunofluorescence for the kidney cases (and taking > "kodachromes" of the results! Does anyone under 30 know what a Kodachrome > is?!). But then our director wanted to bring in IHC and so had a tech from a > lab at Cedars Sinai in LA come to teach us how to do it. We did all of 10 > stains at first. Of course it was all manual and so had to know what was > going on with every step. I didn't use an automated stainer for the first 12 > years that I did IHC, and at times was doing 150 slides a day manually. > > Gradually I ended up doing half time in histology and learned cutting, > special stains, muscle histochemistry, immunofluorescence for kidney cases. I > decided to work on the HT exam since I was doing all that work anyway. We had > a lab of four men - pretty rare, Imagine - and we started a study group to > all take the test. We met after work a couple times a week for 6 months > pretty much memorizing the Sheehan book. We all took the HT and all but one > passed. Later I passed the HTL as well. > > After 11 years of that I moved on to a job in Saudi Arabia - and my wife and > daughter went along. I managed the IHC and muscle lab at King Faisal > Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. My wife was lucky enough to get a teaching > position at the American School where our daughter was in 9th grade. That > made all the difference in our life there because if she had not gotten a job > I don't think we would have stayed there 5 years. She would have been stuck > doing pretty much nothing. I moved on to managing the histology lab as > whole. Living in another country is a great experience, even if it is a > totally different culture. It certainly changed our outlook on the world and > I would not trade that experience for anything. We also did a lot of > travelling during those years - being on "that" side of world makes > traveling there much easier! > > Once we decided to leave Saudi I looked for a job back in the States and was > lucky enough to land one at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta in > their Infectious Disease Pathology division. I worked with 5 infectious > disease pathology specialists and a dozen technologists from histotechs to EM > techs, to microbiologists to molecular biologists. We worked on routine cases > to world-wide outbreak cases. During the 5 years I was there we identified at > least one novel human virus every year that caused outbreaks. And that was in > addition to numerous cases of outbreaks of known diseases for which we > received samples from all over the world. Probably the most notorious case > was the anthrax attack after 9/11. Four of us histotechs manned the lab 24 > hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 weeks running IHC tests on endless samples > while trying to get on top of that case. In the middle of it all the power > went out to the facility and we had to work on generator power with temporary > lighting set up in the lab and battery packs to keep the equipment running. > After 9/11 and then anthrax everyone was thinking it was a bioterror attack > by the same group, so things were crazy. When I think of all the efforts we > made to enhance our detection and diagnostic capabilities, and all our > meetings about how to handle outbreaks, it was hard to see the stumbles the > CDC made in this current pandemic. But I can say that we had discussed, > studied and predicted pretty much everything that has happened in this Covid > 19 era. Indeed, we had the first-hand experience with SARS in the last year I > was there, so knew exactly how it could play out. > > Finally we decided to move back to California and I was able to connect with > an old friend to get a position at Lab Vision in Fremont, CA. This company
Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight!
I am reminded of the Beatles classic: "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I'm sixty-four" 40 years! - a sh.. load of experience, a sh.. load of knowledge. Histotechnology worldwide still needs your wisdom so we hope you can keep an eye on us through Histonet and the Block. Enjoy retirement and hope to see you soon Regards Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA) Principal Scientist, the Children's Hospital at Westmead Adjunct Fellow, School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney Tel: 612 9845 3306 Fax: 612 9845 3318 Pathology Department the children's hospital at westmead Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA -Original Message- From: Morken, Timothy via Histonet [mailto:histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] Sent: Friday, 10 September 2021 2:26 AM To: Histonet Subject: [Histonet] Retirement in sight! After 40 years in the lab I've decided to retire this year - in a week actually! It has been an interesting 4 decades... I started out in an EM lab after getting a degree in Physiology and then competing a 2 year EM course at Delta College in Stockton, CA - the only dedicated EM program at that time. I started out running a scanning EM lab for an electronics company looking at microchips but after a couple years moved to a hosptial lab in Fresno, CA running their EM lab. I was the only one, so from day one was the "Manager" of the lab! I did about 150 EM cases a year and in those days it was a mix of kidney and tumor cases - there was no IHC yet so some tumor diagnostics depended on EM. I did not have quite enough work to keep me busy so I started hanging out in the histology lab. As with many people in this field the day I started working there was the first I had heard of "histology." At first it was helping set up grossing, coverslipping slides and doing immunofluorescence for the kidney cases (and taking "kodachromes" of the results! Does anyone under 30 know what a Kodachrome is?!). But then our director wanted to bring in IHC and so had a tech from a lab at Cedars Sinai in LA come to teach us how to do it. We did all of 10 stains at first. Of course it was all manual and so had to know what was going on with every step. I didn't use an automated stainer for the first 12 years that I did IHC, and at times was doing 150 slides a day manually. Gradually I ended up doing half time in histology and learned cutting, special stains, muscle histochemistry, immunofluorescence for kidney cases. I decided to work on the HT exam since I was doing all that work anyway. We had a lab of four men - pretty rare, Imagine - and we started a study group to all take the test. We met after work a couple times a week for 6 months pretty much memorizing the Sheehan book. We all took the HT and all but one passed. Later I passed the HTL as well. After 11 years of that I moved on to a job in Saudi Arabia - and my wife and daughter went along. I managed the IHC and muscle lab at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. My wife was lucky enough to get a teaching position at the American School where our daughter was in 9th grade. That made all the difference in our life there because if she had not gotten a job I don't think we would have stayed there 5 years. She would have been stuck doing pretty much nothing. I moved on to managing the histology lab as whole. Living in another country is a great experience, even if it is a totally different culture. It certainly changed our outlook on the world and I would not trade that experience for anything. We also did a lot of travelling during those years - being on "that" side of world makes traveling there much easier! Once we decided to leave Saudi I looked for a job back in the States and was lucky enough to land one at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta in their Infectious Disease Pathology division. I worked with 5 infectious disease pathology specialists and a dozen technologists from histotechs to EM techs, to microbiologists to molecular biologists. We worked on routine cases to world-wide outbreak cases. During the 5 years I was there we identified at least one novel human virus every year that caused outbreaks. And that was in addition to numerous cases of outbreaks of known diseases for which we received samples from all over the world. Probably the most notorious case was the anthrax attack after 9/11. Four of us histotechs manned the lab 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 weeks running IHC tests on endless samples while trying to get on top of that case. In the middle of it all the power went out to the facility and we had to work on generator power with temporary lighting set up in the lab and battery packs to keep the equipment running. After 9/11 and then anthrax everyone was thinking it was a bioterror attack by the same
Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight!
Congratulations Tim, I too was a graduate of the San Joaquin Delta EM School under Dr Murphy. Your story is similar to most of us. We have been able to go through doors that others only wish they could. Over the years , we often experience many accomplishments, and get to meet many colleagues in the field. I certainly hope that we can continue to see your posts and hear your comments. Enjoy your new journey in life! Best regards, Lita Duraine Certified Electron Microscopist NRI TEM Core Baylor College of Medicine -Original Message- From: Morken, Timothy via Histonet Sent: Thursday, September 9, 2021 12:50 PM To: Victor Tobias Cc: Histonet Subject: Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight! Victor, thanks, and I still appreciate your showing me around your lab and barcoding system when we were setting that up. It helped a lot in how we implemented it. VMC was a good place to learn - a small lab, doing a lot of different things. Besides newer methods in molecular biology I can say that I learned pretty much everything at VMC and since then it has just been refinement. And when I was there Dr Price was interested in developing "super techs" and actually paid out of his own pocket for a couple of us to go to NSH and EM meetings. I have not been anywhere else where that happened! We're actually moving back to Fresno! My wife is from there and has family there. We had looked at other places, and in other states but decided that was the easiest place to go to. What really made me decide to take the plunge was the spike I housing prices this year. We were able to sell and make quite a bit. My wife had serious case of Fear of Missing Out - thought the market would drop and we would lose the gains. So, here we are! Tim Morken Supervisor, Electron Microscopy/Neuromuscular Special Studies Department of Pathology UC San Francisco Medical Center -Original Message- From: Victor Tobias Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2021 10:36 AM To: Morken, Timothy Cc: Histonet Subject: Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight! Congratulations Tim, It has been a long road. Interesting how we both worked at VMC at different times and I would have to say it was prominent in our careers. It was where I was first exposed to Histology. I have enjoyed your friendship and comradeship. Take care Victor Sent from my iPad > On Sep 9, 2021, at 9:26 AM, Morken, Timothy via Histonet > wrote: > > > After 40 years in the lab I've decided to retire this year - in a week > actually! > > It has been an interesting 4 decades... > > I started out in an EM lab after getting a degree in Physiology and then > competing a 2 year EM course at Delta College in Stockton, CA - the only > dedicated EM program at that time. I started out running a scanning EM lab > for an electronics company looking at microchips but after a couple years > moved to a hosptial lab in Fresno, CA running their EM lab. I was the only > one, so from day one was the "Manager" of the lab! I did about 150 EM cases a > year and in those days it was a mix of kidney and tumor cases - there was no > IHC yet so some tumor diagnostics depended on EM. I did not have quite enough > work to keep me busy so I started hanging out in the histology lab. As with > many people in this field the day I started working there was the first I had > heard of "histology." At first it was helping set up grossing, coverslipping > slides and doing immunofluorescence for the kidney cases (and taking > "kodachromes" of the results! Does anyone under 30 know what a Kodachrome > is?!). But then our director wanted to bring in IHC and so had a tech from a > lab at Cedars Sinai in LA come to teach us how to do it. We did all of 10 > stains at first. Of course it was all manual and so had to know what was > going on with every step. I didn't use an automated stainer for the first 12 > years that I did IHC, and at times was doing 150 slides a day manually. > > Gradually I ended up doing half time in histology and learned cutting, > special stains, muscle histochemistry, immunofluorescence for kidney cases. I > decided to work on the HT exam since I was doing all that work anyway. We had > a lab of four men - pretty rare, Imagine - and we started a study group to > all take the test. We met after work a couple times a week for 6 months > pretty much memorizing the Sheehan book. We all took the HT and all but one > passed. Later I passed the HTL as well. > > After 11 years of that I moved on to a job in Saudi Arabia - and my wife and > daughter went along. I managed the IHC and muscle lab at King Faisal > Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. My wife was lucky enough to get a teaching > position at the American School where our daughter was in 9th grade. That > made all the di
Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight!
Hi Tim,Congratulations and welcome to the club... where everyday is a Saturday!Best regards,Brett Connolly, HTL, PhDSent via the Samsung Galaxy S8, an AT 5G Evolution capable smartphone Original message From: "Morken, Timothy via Histonet" Date: 9/9/21 12:26 PM (GMT-05:00) To: Histonet Subject: [Histonet] Retirement in sight! After 40 years in the lab I've decided to retire this year - in a week actually!It has been an interesting 4 decades...I started out in an EM lab after getting a degree in Physiology and then competing a 2 year EM course at Delta College in Stockton, CA - the only dedicated EM program at that time. I started out running a scanning EM lab for an electronics company looking at microchips but after a couple years moved to a hosptial lab in Fresno, CA running their EM lab. I was the only one, so from day one was the "Manager" of the lab! I did about 150 EM cases a year and in those days it was a mix of kidney and tumor cases - there was no IHC yet so some tumor diagnostics depended on EM. I did not have quite enough work to keep me busy so I started hanging out in the histology lab. As with many people in this field the day I started working there was the first I had heard of "histology." At first it was helping set up grossing, coverslipping slides and doing immunofluorescence for the kidney cases (and taking "kodachromes" of the results! Does anyone under 30 know what a Kodachrome is?!). But then our director wanted to bring in IHC and so had a tech from a lab at Cedars Sinai in LA come to teach us how to do it. We did all of 10 stains at first. Of course it was all manual and so had to know what was going on with every step. I didn't use an automated stainer for the first 12 years that I did IHC, and at times was doing 150 slides a day manually.Gradually I ended up doing half time in histology and learned cutting, special stains, muscle histochemistry, immunofluorescence for kidney cases. I decided to work on the HT exam since I was doing all that work anyway. We had a lab of four men - pretty rare, Imagine - and we started a study group to all take the test. We met after work a couple times a week for 6 months pretty much memorizing the Sheehan book. We all took the HT and all but one passed. Later I passed the HTL as well.After 11 years of that I moved on to a job in Saudi Arabia - and my wife and daughter went along. I managed the IHC and muscle lab at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. My wife was lucky enough to get a teaching position at the American School where our daughter was in 9th grade. That made all the difference in our life there because if she had not gotten a job I don't think we would have stayed there 5 years. She would have been stuck doing pretty much nothing. I moved on to managing the histology lab as whole. Living in another country is a great experience, even if it is a totally different culture. It certainly changed our outlook on the world and I would not trade that experience for anything. We also did a lot of travelling during those years - being on "that" side of world makes traveling there much easier!Once we decided to leave Saudi I looked for a job back in the States and was lucky enough to land one at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta in their Infectious Disease Pathology division. I worked with 5 infectious disease pathology specialists and a dozen technologists from histotechs to EM techs, to microbiologists to molecular biologists. We worked on routine cases to world-wide outbreak cases. During the 5 years I was there we identified at least one novel human virus every year that caused outbreaks. And that was in addition to numerous cases of outbreaks of known diseases for which we received samples from all over the world. Probably the most notorious case was the anthrax attack after 9/11. Four of us histotechs manned the lab 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 weeks running IHC tests on endless samples while trying to get on top of that case. In the middle of it all the power went out to the facility and we had to work on generator power with temporary lighting set up in the lab and battery packs to keep the equipment running. After 9/11 and then anthrax everyone was thinking it was a bioterror attack by the same group, so things were crazy. When I think of all the efforts we made to enhance our detection and diagnostic capabilities, and all our meetings about how to handle outbreaks, it was hard to see the stumbles the CDC made in this current pandemic. But I can say that we had discussed, studied and predicted pretty much everything that has happened in this Covid 19 era. Indeed, we had the first-hand experience with SARS in the last year I was there, so knew exactly how it could play out.Finally we decided to move back to California and I was able to connect with an old friend to get a po
Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight!
Well, Dr Morken I do not know you but..I have read/absorbed/acted upon occasionally... your most informative Posts, over the years Your Professional History reads such a wide spectrum of interests/skills/locations! I assume that you will still be contributing to Histonet so that your valuable insights/experiences may still be available to us that have not yet retired. I trust that your Family equally enjoyed your trajectories across the World! I wish you the very best in your new "Post" Sincerely Carl Carl Hobbs FIBMS Histology and Imaging Manager Wolfson CARD Guys Campus, London Bridge Kings College London London SE1 1UL Carl Hobbs FIBMS Histology and Imaging Manager Wolfson CARD Guys Campus, London Bridge Kings College London London SE1 1UL 020 7848 6810 ___ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight!
Victor, thanks, and I still appreciate your showing me around your lab and barcoding system when we were setting that up. It helped a lot in how we implemented it. VMC was a good place to learn - a small lab, doing a lot of different things. Besides newer methods in molecular biology I can say that I learned pretty much everything at VMC and since then it has just been refinement. And when I was there Dr Price was interested in developing "super techs" and actually paid out of his own pocket for a couple of us to go to NSH and EM meetings. I have not been anywhere else where that happened! We're actually moving back to Fresno! My wife is from there and has family there. We had looked at other places, and in other states but decided that was the easiest place to go to. What really made me decide to take the plunge was the spike I housing prices this year. We were able to sell and make quite a bit. My wife had serious case of Fear of Missing Out - thought the market would drop and we would lose the gains. So, here we are! Tim Morken Supervisor, Electron Microscopy/Neuromuscular Special Studies Department of Pathology UC San Francisco Medical Center -Original Message- From: Victor Tobias Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2021 10:36 AM To: Morken, Timothy Cc: Histonet Subject: Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight! Congratulations Tim, It has been a long road. Interesting how we both worked at VMC at different times and I would have to say it was prominent in our careers. It was where I was first exposed to Histology. I have enjoyed your friendship and comradeship. Take care Victor Sent from my iPad > On Sep 9, 2021, at 9:26 AM, Morken, Timothy via Histonet > wrote: > > > After 40 years in the lab I've decided to retire this year - in a week > actually! > > It has been an interesting 4 decades... > > I started out in an EM lab after getting a degree in Physiology and then > competing a 2 year EM course at Delta College in Stockton, CA - the only > dedicated EM program at that time. I started out running a scanning EM lab > for an electronics company looking at microchips but after a couple years > moved to a hosptial lab in Fresno, CA running their EM lab. I was the only > one, so from day one was the "Manager" of the lab! I did about 150 EM cases a > year and in those days it was a mix of kidney and tumor cases - there was no > IHC yet so some tumor diagnostics depended on EM. I did not have quite enough > work to keep me busy so I started hanging out in the histology lab. As with > many people in this field the day I started working there was the first I had > heard of "histology." At first it was helping set up grossing, coverslipping > slides and doing immunofluorescence for the kidney cases (and taking > "kodachromes" of the results! Does anyone under 30 know what a Kodachrome > is?!). But then our director wanted to bring in IHC and so had a tech from a > lab at Cedars Sinai in LA come to teach us how to do it. We did all of 10 > stains at first. Of course it was all manual and so had to know what was > going on with every step. I didn't use an automated stainer for the first 12 > years that I did IHC, and at times was doing 150 slides a day manually. > > Gradually I ended up doing half time in histology and learned cutting, > special stains, muscle histochemistry, immunofluorescence for kidney cases. I > decided to work on the HT exam since I was doing all that work anyway. We had > a lab of four men - pretty rare, Imagine - and we started a study group to > all take the test. We met after work a couple times a week for 6 months > pretty much memorizing the Sheehan book. We all took the HT and all but one > passed. Later I passed the HTL as well. > > After 11 years of that I moved on to a job in Saudi Arabia - and my wife and > daughter went along. I managed the IHC and muscle lab at King Faisal > Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. My wife was lucky enough to get a teaching > position at the American School where our daughter was in 9th grade. That > made all the difference in our life there because if she had not gotten a job > I don't think we would have stayed there 5 years. She would have been stuck > doing pretty much nothing. I moved on to managing the histology lab as > whole. Living in another country is a great experience, even if it is a > totally different culture. It certainly changed our outlook on the world and > I would not trade that experience for anything. We also did a lot of > travelling during those years - being on "that" side of world makes > traveling there much easier! > > Once we decided to leave Saudi I looked for a job back in the States and was > lucky enough to land one at the Cen
Re: [Histonet] Retirement in sight!
Congratulations Tim, It has been a long road. Interesting how we both worked at VMC at different times and I would have to say it was prominent in our careers. It was where I was first exposed to Histology. I have enjoyed your friendship and comradeship. Take care Victor Sent from my iPad > On Sep 9, 2021, at 9:26 AM, Morken, Timothy via Histonet > wrote: > > > After 40 years in the lab I've decided to retire this year - in a week > actually! > > It has been an interesting 4 decades... > > I started out in an EM lab after getting a degree in Physiology and then > competing a 2 year EM course at Delta College in Stockton, CA - the only > dedicated EM program at that time. I started out running a scanning EM lab > for an electronics company looking at microchips but after a couple years > moved to a hosptial lab in Fresno, CA running their EM lab. I was the only > one, so from day one was the "Manager" of the lab! I did about 150 EM cases a > year and in those days it was a mix of kidney and tumor cases - there was no > IHC yet so some tumor diagnostics depended on EM. I did not have quite enough > work to keep me busy so I started hanging out in the histology lab. As with > many people in this field the day I started working there was the first I had > heard of "histology." At first it was helping set up grossing, coverslipping > slides and doing immunofluorescence for the kidney cases (and taking > "kodachromes" of the results! Does anyone under 30 know what a Kodachrome > is?!). But then our director wanted to bring in IHC and so had a tech from a > lab at Cedars Sinai in LA come to teach us how to do it. We did all of 10 > stains at first. Of course it was all manual and so had to know what was > going on with every step. I didn't use an automated stainer for the first 12 > years that I did IHC, and at times was doing 150 slides a day manually. > > Gradually I ended up doing half time in histology and learned cutting, > special stains, muscle histochemistry, immunofluorescence for kidney cases. I > decided to work on the HT exam since I was doing all that work anyway. We had > a lab of four men - pretty rare, Imagine - and we started a study group to > all take the test. We met after work a couple times a week for 6 months > pretty much memorizing the Sheehan book. We all took the HT and all but one > passed. Later I passed the HTL as well. > > After 11 years of that I moved on to a job in Saudi Arabia - and my wife and > daughter went along. I managed the IHC and muscle lab at King Faisal > Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. My wife was lucky enough to get a teaching > position at the American School where our daughter was in 9th grade. That > made all the difference in our life there because if she had not gotten a job > I don't think we would have stayed there 5 years. She would have been stuck > doing pretty much nothing. I moved on to managing the histology lab as > whole. Living in another country is a great experience, even if it is a > totally different culture. It certainly changed our outlook on the world and > I would not trade that experience for anything. We also did a lot of > travelling during those years - being on "that" side of world makes > traveling there much easier! > > Once we decided to leave Saudi I looked for a job back in the States and was > lucky enough to land one at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta in > their Infectious Disease Pathology division. I worked with 5 infectious > disease pathology specialists and a dozen technologists from histotechs to EM > techs, to microbiologists to molecular biologists. We worked on routine cases > to world-wide outbreak cases. During the 5 years I was there we identified at > least one novel human virus every year that caused outbreaks. And that was in > addition to numerous cases of outbreaks of known diseases for which we > received samples from all over the world. Probably the most notorious case > was the anthrax attack after 9/11. Four of us histotechs manned the lab 24 > hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 weeks running IHC tests on endless samples > while trying to get on top of that case. In the middle of it all the power > went out to the facility and we had to work on generator power with temporary > lighting set up in the lab and battery packs to keep the equipment running. > After 9/11 and then anthrax everyone was thinking it was a bioterror attack > by the same group, so things were crazy. When I think of all the efforts we > made to enhance our detection and diagnostic capabilities, and all our > meetings about how to handle outbreaks, it was hard to see the stumbles the > CDC made in this current pandemic. But I can say that we had discussed, > studied and predicted pretty much everything that has happened in this Covid > 19 era. Indeed, we had the first-hand experience with SARS in the last year I > was there, so knew exactly how it could
[Histonet] Retirement in sight!
After 40 years in the lab I've decided to retire this year - in a week actually! It has been an interesting 4 decades... I started out in an EM lab after getting a degree in Physiology and then competing a 2 year EM course at Delta College in Stockton, CA - the only dedicated EM program at that time. I started out running a scanning EM lab for an electronics company looking at microchips but after a couple years moved to a hosptial lab in Fresno, CA running their EM lab. I was the only one, so from day one was the "Manager" of the lab! I did about 150 EM cases a year and in those days it was a mix of kidney and tumor cases - there was no IHC yet so some tumor diagnostics depended on EM. I did not have quite enough work to keep me busy so I started hanging out in the histology lab. As with many people in this field the day I started working there was the first I had heard of "histology." At first it was helping set up grossing, coverslipping slides and doing immunofluorescence for the kidney cases (and taking "kodachromes" of the results! Does anyone under 30 know what a Kodachrome is?!). But then our director wanted to bring in IHC and so had a tech from a lab at Cedars Sinai in LA come to teach us how to do it. We did all of 10 stains at first. Of course it was all manual and so had to know what was going on with every step. I didn't use an automated stainer for the first 12 years that I did IHC, and at times was doing 150 slides a day manually. Gradually I ended up doing half time in histology and learned cutting, special stains, muscle histochemistry, immunofluorescence for kidney cases. I decided to work on the HT exam since I was doing all that work anyway. We had a lab of four men - pretty rare, Imagine - and we started a study group to all take the test. We met after work a couple times a week for 6 months pretty much memorizing the Sheehan book. We all took the HT and all but one passed. Later I passed the HTL as well. After 11 years of that I moved on to a job in Saudi Arabia - and my wife and daughter went along. I managed the IHC and muscle lab at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. My wife was lucky enough to get a teaching position at the American School where our daughter was in 9th grade. That made all the difference in our life there because if she had not gotten a job I don't think we would have stayed there 5 years. She would have been stuck doing pretty much nothing. I moved on to managing the histology lab as whole. Living in another country is a great experience, even if it is a totally different culture. It certainly changed our outlook on the world and I would not trade that experience for anything. We also did a lot of travelling during those years - being on "that" side of world makes traveling there much easier! Once we decided to leave Saudi I looked for a job back in the States and was lucky enough to land one at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta in their Infectious Disease Pathology division. I worked with 5 infectious disease pathology specialists and a dozen technologists from histotechs to EM techs, to microbiologists to molecular biologists. We worked on routine cases to world-wide outbreak cases. During the 5 years I was there we identified at least one novel human virus every year that caused outbreaks. And that was in addition to numerous cases of outbreaks of known diseases for which we received samples from all over the world. Probably the most notorious case was the anthrax attack after 9/11. Four of us histotechs manned the lab 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 6 weeks running IHC tests on endless samples while trying to get on top of that case. In the middle of it all the power went out to the facility and we had to work on generator power with temporary lighting set up in the lab and battery packs to keep the equipment running. After 9/11 and then anthrax everyone was thinking it was a bioterror attack by the same group, so things were crazy. When I think of all the efforts we made to enhance our detection and diagnostic capabilities, and all our meetings about how to handle outbreaks, it was hard to see the stumbles the CDC made in this current pandemic. But I can say that we had discussed, studied and predicted pretty much everything that has happened in this Covid 19 era. Indeed, we had the first-hand experience with SARS in the last year I was there, so knew exactly how it could play out. Finally we decided to move back to California and I was able to connect with an old friend to get a position at Lab Vision in Fremont, CA. This company made the Dako Autostainer and also had a large offering of antibodies. We only had 25 people but were doing very well and still had a "Startup" culture. That was a very interesting experience after being on the "customer" side for so long. I got to see a lot of different labs, go to a lot of meetings, make a lot of contacts and travel to
