Medical Illustrator Changed Careers and Now Opens Minds to the Laboratory Profession

Jesse McCoy, PA(ASCP)^CM, moved from the sidelines to the frontlines of medical care when she switched careers from a medical illustrator to a pathologists' assistant. Accidentally discovering the career online, Ms. McCoy left her job and enrolled in two-year National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences-accredited master's program to become a pathologists' assistant at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Conn.

She has no regrets about changing careers. "Being a pathologists' assistant is great because every day is different, and I'm always learning on the job," Ms. McCoy said. "Every day, the pathologist and I are on the hunt for clues to diseases."

Her enthusiasm for her second career bubbled over into becoming a volunteer for a job-shadowing program for high school students. When Ms. McCoy applied for the ASCP Career Ambassador program, she was already experienced and enjoyed talking about being a pathologists' assistant.

To date as a 2011–2012 ASCP Career Ambassador, Ms. McCoy has made 13 presentations at five high schools, reaching several levels of students. She moved beyond being a pathologists' assistant, however, discussing all aspects of the laboratory profession from pathologist to phlebotomist and using real organs for demonstrations.

"Students were either amazed or horrified by the organs," Ms. McCoy said. "But all the students seemed engaged during the presentations. I was surprised by how many students shared their family stories about cancer, such as 'my mother had a hysterectomy' or 'my grandmother had breast cancer.' I was expecting more technical questions than personal ones. Cancer is very personal to many students.

"Also, I learned that suggesting careers in the medical laboratory profession went a long way with high school students, even if they never knew these jobs existed before my presentation."