UAB Medicine is celebrating Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, April 20-24. Our team of more than 550 lab professionals, including pathologists and lab personnel, work across 37 locations. They provide integrity-based testing for our clinicians who need interpretations for diagnoses and prognoses in ongoing patient care. Our thanks go to UAB lab professionals for their hard work, scientific dedication, and contributions to our organization.
Behind nearly every diagnosis, treatment plan, and surgical decision is a laboratory result. Lab data accounts for nearly 73% of all electronic medical record content at UAB Medicine. Among our lab professionals are medical technologists, clinical lab scientists, medical laboratory technicians, histology technologists, cytology technologists, cytogenetic technologists, pathology assistants, pathology specialists, phlebotomists, and lab technicians. They work in areas most patients never see, such as blood banks, microbiology, surgical pathology, and molecular diagnostics.
Hospital lab leaders closely coordinate with the Department of Pathology and numerous specialty areas, such as hematology, chemistry, oncology, trauma, anesthesia, cardiology, genetics, and infectious diseases. This teamwork ensures accuracy and quality for every result.
UAB Hospital utilizes an enormous volume of blood products. Red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and other components are processed and prepared by hospital labs to meet urgent and ongoing clinical needs. In 2025 alone, more than 79,000 units were prepared and dispensed, thanks in part to our strong community participation in blood drives.
How can you say thanks? Donate blood and recruit others to do so. In celebrating Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, let’s appreciate how our hospital labs make life-changing care possible. And take a moment to reach out and thank a lab employee.