Medical Laboratory Science

Overview

Bachelor of Science

Medical laboratory scientists are “diagnostic detectives.” We apply biology, chemistry and medicine to perform and interpret laboratory data. This laboratory data aids in the diagnosis and treatment of disease as well as disease monitoring and prevention. It is a profession that requires vast knowledge to make life-saving decisions. This is an exciting, challenging and rewarding healthcare profession.

There is a demand for more testing as our population grows older and medical knowledge expands into biogenetics, DNA and cell marker technologies, and personalized medicine. However, there is a critical shortage of medical technologists. The shortage is growing by 10,000 practitioners per year!

Our program curriculum culminates in the senior year at the Sinai Hospital campus and a semester-long clinical practicum to develop competency in all disciplines. Graduates are eligible to take the national certification examination to become a certified Medical Laboratory Scientist, MLS (ASCP). You will have the benefits of the MLS faculty who are working professionals in their area of expertise. Our programs offer personal attention in small, select classes of students and the networking opportunities as a result of being in the clinical laboratory your entire last semester.

The Medical Laboratory Science degree is a versatile one that will prepare you to become a certified medical laboratory scientist qualified to work wherever laboratory testing is researched, developed, or performed, including hospital, private, research, industrial, biomedical, and forensic laboratories; pharmaceutical companies; and fertility centers.

Our graduates are currently employed in many area hospitals, such as, Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, University of Maryland Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Washington Hospital Center, but also in other parts of the country. In fact, 100% of our MLS graduates obtain full-time employment (some before graduation) or continue onto post-graduate education.

For more information on a career as a Medical Laboratory Scientist: www.ascls.org and www.ascp.org.

What Will You Learn?

• How to be a disease detective. As diseases like MRSA, Zika and Ebola take center stage in our world, you will learn how to detect these diseases, protecting the patient and the public.
• How red and white blood cells and platelets look microscopically and tell whether they are normal or abnormal.
• Red blood cells are flexible because they have to be. They negotiate through very narrow spaces such as veins and capillaries. If they break apart, the patient becomes anemic.
• How to be an anemia detective. Low hemoglobin indicates an iron deficiency or some other type of anemia.
• White blood cells are important to the immune system. As a Medical Laboratory Scientist, you will learn how abnormal white cells appear, so you can diagnose leukemia.
• The ancient Greeks and Egyptians studied urine. Testing urine can easily and inexpensively determine health, wellness and detect disease.
• Someone in the United States needs blood every 2 seconds. Medical Laboratory Scientists working in the Blood Bank perform sophisticated type and cross studies, matching donors with recipients who have anemia, leukemia, sickle cell disease and are victims of trauma.
• Medical Laboratory Scientists study patient samples looking for metabolic and genetic markers for heart attack, diabetes, cancer and AIDS.
• Communication, teamwork, time management and collaboration are essential when working as a group for the good of the patient.  Everyone in the clinical laboratory does their part in discovering the diagnosis of the patient.
• How to recognize critical illnesses by blood chemistries including diabetic crises, sepsis, genetic diseases, poisonings, even heart attacks.
• From the tiny hydrogen ion to the giant gamma globulins, Medical Laboratory Scientists in the chemistry lab measure the molecules that keep us alive or make us sick, diagnose our diseases or confirm our health. There is no hospital without the laboratory.

A complete listing of learning objectives for the Medical Laboratory Science program can be found in our Academic Catalog.
Learning Objectives

Why Study Medical Laboratory Science?

• Small classes afford rich opportunities for faculty to build caring and mentoring relationships with students.
• Our graduates are highly valued and sought after by employers.
• 100% of our graduates were employed or continued in a post-graduate program 2007-2016.
• Partnership with Sinai Hospital, one of the top teaching hospitals in this area.
• Intensive hands-on clinical experience makes our students confident going into the workplace.
• Scholarships and education grants are available in the workplace.