Six ASCP members were honored with the ASCP 2008 ASCP Regional Member Award Thursday, February 28th at the ASCP Leadership Exchange in San Francisco. The ASCP Regional Member Award recognizes outstanding ASCP Members who promote and enhance the field of laboratory medicine through their contributions at the local level. Only one recipient is selected annually from each national region to receive an award.

Mid-Atlantic Region
A strong advocate for ASCP certification and membership, Johanna Wilson Laird, MS, MT(ASCP) has been involved in CLS/MT education for more than three decades. She is currently the Director of the Program in Clinical Laboratory Science/Medical Technology at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. Among her many activities for recruiting and mentoring students, Laird annually volunteers her time to help organize and run Salisbury’s four-day “Fun with Forensics” overnight event for new students. She also developed a middle-school student forensic experience as part of the Eastern Shore’s “Gear Up” Program, and spreads the word about careers in the laboratory with a direct mail program to area students in science and health majors. To show her support for the certification maintenance program (CMP), Laird participated even though she has been certified for 34 years; she regularly wears her certification pins and displays her CMP certificate to demonstrate her professional pride.

Midwest Region
After many years as an accomplished educator, Remedios Tesch, MSEd, MT(ASCP) will retire this year as department chair of Medical Lab Technology/Phlebotomy at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. During her tenure at CLC, she has influenced countless students on the path to a career in laboratory science. She also helped usher in a new generation of educational tools, overseeing the integration of computer performance systems with classroom learning activities to create e-instruction programs. Meanwhile, she has maintained a full calendar of volunteer activity with ASCP, serving as a local representative since the days of the AMS section. In 2003, she was a faculty member for an ASCP teleconference. Tesch has also served as a staff assistant and presenter at a number of ASCP workshops. While her students will undoubtedly miss her, ASCP (and her orchids) can only benefit from having more of her time and experience.

North Central Region
Through more than 35 years experience in the laboratory field, Debra K. Westerberg, MT(ASCP)SM, has continuously focused on professional growth—she began as a CLA, advanced to MLT, ultimately obtained her MT and is currently taking classes for a certificate in clinical laboratory molecular diagnostics. Westerberg is now the microbiology supervisor at Rice Memorial Hospital, in Willmar, Minnesota, where she also assists the Rice Laboratory Outreach program on questions of microbiology testing and worked with the Minnesota Department of Health in setting up an out-state courier system. Her lively roster of volunteer activity—as a local ASCP representative, audio conference coordinator and member of numerous committees—demonstrates a wholehearted commitment to her profession. Recently, she has been volunteering on the Minnesota Laboratory Collaborative planning committee, serving as co-chair for their registration committee this past spring. She hopes soon to serve as a staff assistant at a regional or national meeting.

Northeast Region
James A. Parsons, MBA, MT(ASCP), began his career working in rural hospitals in upstate New York, then spent a number of years as a New York state laboratory inspector. Today, he is the supervisor of the Laboratory Outreach Program in Albany, overseeing the operation of seven patient service centers. One of the founders and the current president of the Empire chapter of the Clinical Laboratory Management Association (CLMA), Parsons still finds plenty of time to be an energetic volunteer for ASCP. As a member of the Workshops for Laboratory Professionals Committee, he recruits speakers for regional workshops. He has also served as a staff assistant and offered his own talents for a variety of programs, including regional workshops, the Leadership Exchange and Thinklab 2005. His colleagues (who include his wife of 30 years, also a medical lab tech) know him as an active leader and positive role model for the profession.

Northwest Region
Northwest Cancer Specialists in Portland, Oregon, is the largest and busiest oncology physician practice in the Pacific Northwest; it is also where Cheryl Thomas, MLT(ASCP), contributes her skills on a daily basis. A keen advocate for continuing education, Thomas is active in a variety of laboratory science CE programs around the state of Oregon. As a local ASCP representative, she actively promotes ASCP continuing education opportunities. She has twice been the Program Chair for the yearly Spring Seminar and has been a co-chair for several medical technology regional programs. She also participates regularly in professional outreach functions such as college fairs and conferences to promote the laboratory profession. Her colleagues know her as an energetic and enthusiastic mentor who works tirelessly to help ensure access to high quality local professional education for the technicians/technologists in her region.

Southeast Region
Alabama’s Auburn University is the home base of Kathryn Milly-West, MS, MT(ASCP), where she serves as Advisor & Coordinator of UABT/MEDT and also works as a medical technologist at nearby East Alabama Medical Center. Milly-West is known as an enthusiastic and effective recruiter for the Auburn program, as she fills her schedule by participating in a wide variety of outreach activities. Her success is demonstrated by the number of her students she has recruited to become local representatives in her region. Together, she and her students put on a skit at local high schools about the work of a medical technologist. National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week is an annual high point of activity, as she works with her students to create a variety of displays for local high school students, businesses and the general public.