MLS Alumni

After graduating from Texas State, I began working as a generalist for PPD (Pharmaceutical Product Development) in Austin as a generalist. I soon accepted a job at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in the Stem Cell Transplant & Cellular Therapy Lab working as a Clinical Cell Therapy Specialist. The non-traditional lab setting has allowed for growth and development in a new and emerging field.  The state of art of facility has given me the opportunities to further develop my clinical skills through use of new and rare processing techniques.

Callie Camp graduated from Texas Tech University’s Health Science Center's program in Molecular Pathology in 2010. She is currently employed at Clinical Pathology Laboratories in Austin, Texas.  Callie is responsible for setting up and evaluating molecular diagnostic tests and quality control.

Callie was the lead author of the feature article in the November, 2010, issue of the ASCP journal, Laboratory Medicine,  "A Review of Acinetobacter baumannii as a Highly Successful Pathogen in Times of War."  The article is a review of a particularly resilient bacterial pathogen that has proliferated in hospital settings and has significantly affected U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jenn is a 2013 Texas State University CLS Program graduate, as well as being a certified MLS (ASCP). In 2014, Jenn was awarded the TACLS (Texas Association for Clinical Laboratory Science) Keys to the Future.

She obtained her ScM from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2016 and has been employed by BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) as a #MedicalLaboratory Microbiologist since that time in Baltimore, MD.

Jenn will be serving as the AMR Fellow for the Northwest region, and will be officially relocating to the Seattle area. She mentions that it's a phenomenal research and professional development opportunity, facilitating collaboration on the study of antimicrobial resistance in the context of the public health laboratory. It is a 12-month program, and isn't solely laboratory research on AMR, but also includes networking, training at CDC, and distance learning activities in public health core competencies. Fellows are placed at one of seven regional AR laboratories in the CDC's AR Laboratory Network (one fellow per lab each year, I've been told) to carry out their research, and typically go on to present at national conferences and/or publish their work. She will be the Fellow for the West region, which includes Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) CDC American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science

Joanna graduated from the Texas State University Clinical Laboratory Science Program in 2007, and worked as a generalist at Dell Children’s Center of Central Texas. She began teaching in 2010 in the Medical Laboratory Technology Program at Austin Community College. Mrs. Ellis became an Associate Professor at ACC in May of 2011 and completed her Masters of Science in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University in August of 2012. In January of 2014, Joanna returned to her alma mater as a Clinical Assistant Professor and Clinical Coordinator in the CLS department at Texas State. She created one of only a couple CLS-specific study abroad programs in the nation in 2018 in which she created the Health Education Advances with Laboratory Science (HEALS) workshop. She was promoted to Clinical Associate Professor in 2019. Joanna completed her PhD in Adult, Professional, and Community Education at Texas State University. Her research interests include community health education, service-learning, social determinants of health, and cultural humility in healthcare.  Dr. Ellis left the MLS Program at TxSt in Spring 2024 to work in industry for Sysmex. She continues to teach for the MLS program as a per course instructor.

Joanna was elected Student Forum Chair of TACLS and ASCLS Region VII Student Forum Representative in 2007. She continued her professional involvement by serving as the TACLS New Professional Board Member and then Board Member at Large. She has been the Membership Committee Chair 2007-2010, served on two Convention committees, then served as Chair of TACLS 2013 Weird Science Annual Meeting in Austin. Joanna completed the ASCLS Leadership Academy 2012-2013. She has been active in the 2013 Licensure for Lab Professionals initiative through website creation (texaslabquality.org), petition designer, testifying, and Facebook page creator.  She was TACLS Member of the Year in 2015. Joanna was awarded the honor of 2016 ASCLS Voices Under 40 Spotlight Recipient. Joanna is a TACLS Past President. She is a mother of two twenty-something daughters who are her pride and joy.

awarded posthumous degree

Dr. Prihoda is currently a Pediatric resident physician at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine located at Scott & White Hospital and Clinic in Temple, Texas. After graduating from Southwest Texas State University's Clinical Laboratory Science program in 2001, Dr. Prihoda worked as a generalist at Twelve Oaks Medical Center and in the hematology department at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston. She then entered medical school at Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2005 in pursuit of her doctoral degree. In 2009, she matched into the 3 year Pediatric residency program at Texas A&M. Her future career goals include becoming a General Pediatrician or sub-specializing in Pediatric Gastroenterology.

My name is Regina Frazier, MLS (ACSP)^CM and I am a Clinical Laboratory Scientist working at Methodist Ambulatory Surgical Hospital-Northwest in San Antonio. I have been working as a generalist for six years. Not one made for the city life; I live in LaVernia, Texas (known as Reginaland to some) an area with more cows than people. I was born in 1982 in Victoria, Texas and grew up in the small but historic town of Goliad, Texas. I attended Texas Lutheran University where I was first drawn to the laboratory professions after my first microbiology class.  I remember thinking “This is fun! Can you really do this kind of work for a living?” I attended a health professions summer program at Texas Tech Health Science Center where I learned more about Clinical Laboratory Science as a major and a profession.  To pursue that, I then transferred to Texas State University, I found each subject fascinating although I found my favorite subject is blood banking. In 2005 I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Laboratory Science.

Stacey is a graduate of the 2003 class of the Clinical Laboratory Science program at Texas State University.  After graduation she worked as a Medical Technologist at Round Rock Medical Center before moving to North Carolina to pursue graduate school.  She continued to work as a Medical Technologist at Duke University Medical Center before beginning the Pathologists Assistant graduate program at Duke in the fall of 2005.  After graduating from the PA program in 2007 she moved back to Austin, Texas to accept a job with Clinical Pathology Associates where she works in surgical and autopsy pathology.