Patricia K. Knebel, MT(ASCP) received the 2009 ASCP Member Excellence in Management Award at the ASCP's Leadership Exchange Awards Presentation and Keynote Luncheon, March 20, in Philadelphia.
The award was established to honor an ASCP laboratory professional engaged in laboratory management or supervision and who has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills and management strategies in the areas of personnel, finance, and operations.
For more than 37 years, Knebel served as the Laboratory Manager of the Iowa City Veterans Administration Health Care System. She was also the Director of Laboratory Personnel Standards and Development working virtually for the VA Central Office in Washington, DC.
When the VA reorganized its medical centers into regions called VISNs and created service lines, Knebel became the Administrative Officer of the VISN 23 Laboratory Service Line, which included oversight of 11 laboratories in five states. During her tenure she was also a member of VA national committees for laboratory product standardization and workload recording systems. She chaired a multi-year project to develop new qualification standards for VA medical technologists, and implemented training for each of the VISNs so that approximately 4000 MTs were professionally boarded, while also chairing the national professional standard board.
The ASCP has been fortunate to have Knebel as Chair of the Council of Laboratory Professionals, a member of the ASCP Board of Directors, Executive Committee, By-Laws Committee, Commission on Membership, and Teleconference Committee. In addition, she served a number of times on Member Nominations, Awards, and Planning and Scope committees, was the Health Professions Network representative, a state advisor, a meeting staff assistant, and member of various work groups and task forces including the ASCP/ASCLS Task Force on Collaboration.
Knebel is also a member of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, having held offices including state president and chair of many committees. She was elected ASCLS-Iowa Member of the Year and was a recipient of state and national Omicron Sigma awards.
Knebel has always advocated for clinical laboratory professionals. She has spoken at conferences and written articles on professional issues. She originated and directed Laboratory Pursuits, a summer camp for Iowa high school students interested in lab careers. Knebel was an adjunct instructor in the University of Iowa Clinical Laboratory Science Program and was instrumental in leading a statewide fight to keep the program open. Currently, Knebel is the ASCP member of a coalition of laboratory professionals working for licensure in Iowa. She represented the VA and currently the ASCP on the Coordinating Council for the Clinical Laboratory Workforce.