National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (NMLPW) is a time of recognition for the approximately 265,000 medical laboratory professionals and 15,000 board-certified pathologists who play a vital role in every aspect of health care.

NMLPW is a chance for medical laboratory personnel to celebrate their professionalism and be recognized for their efforts. Often, they use this time to inform and educate medical colleagues and the public about the medical laboratory. Since laboratorians often work behind the scenes, few people know much about the critical testing they perform every day.

Lab Week is held annually during the last full week of April. Lab Week was most-recently held April 20-26, 2008. The theme was "Laboratory Professionals: Delivering Today's Results for a Healthier Tomorrow."

Lab Week 2008 is creating a huge buzz in the media. Many lab facilities have managed to get the word out in their area newspapers and on TV. South Dakota's KSFY-TV dedicated a week's worth of its "Medical Minutes" feature stories to laboratory professionals who work so hard behind the scenes. Deb Piper, MT(ASCP), Lab Director at the Avera Heart Hospital is featured in this video segment.

A Google search of news items reveals how Lab Week is being celebrated all over North America. Find more Lab Week news stories here.

For NMLPW logo, choose format (EPS, JPG, TIF) to download.