Quo Vadis?

The “Quo Vadis?” feature will allow young scientists (40 years of age and younger) the opportunity to express theiropinions on the future of laboratory medicine. Below are select responses.

What aspect of your job do you find most challenging?

“The most challenging aspect of my job ishelping clinicians move from a differential diag-nosis towards a confirmed diagnosis in thequickest possible time.” —Moushumi Lodh,West Bengal, India

“Proper utilization of personal resources isthe most challenging part of my job. As an aca-demic clinical chemist, one experiences concomi-tant opportunities. We all have professional de-mands on our time (e.g., clinical responsibilities,advocating for the clinical laboratory and its em-ployees, teaching and mentoring, conducting re-search and publishing, serving the university andnational organizations). Learning to recognize thatone’s abilities to fulfill obligations is limited, andtherefore prioritizing the importance of these obli-gations is certainly challenging. While flexibility inresponding to changing demands is paramount,how one deals with this constant juggling of prior-ities will ultimately shape the direction of that per-son’s career.”—Joshua Bornhorst, Little Rock, AR

“The most challenging aspect of my job,thus far, has been my transition from a trainee toa lab director. The authority to make decisions,the responsibility of making the correct decision,and the expectation to deliver them upon imme-diate request have weighed heavily on me andcould, at times, be overwhelming. I soon learnedhow to defer decisions I was not comfortablemaking so data could be collected, colleaguescould be consulted, and more information gath-ered to make informed decisions in a time frameI was comfortable with.”—Darci R. Block, Roch-ester, MN

“The most challenging aspect of my job isthe time constraints. There are so many tasks toget done and oftentimes not enough time tocomplete everything as planned. However, I havefound that making a to-do list and crossingthings off as they’re completed are very helpful.When all is said and done, I may not have accom-plished everything on my list, but it keeps mefocused and helps me manage the time more ef-ficiently.”—Brenda Suh-Lailam, Salt Lake City,UT

“The most challenging aspect so far in mybudding career was to adapt to my new role as thelaboratory director—a transition from an indi-vidual contributor to an organizational leader.Being an effective laboratory director requires adifferent focus on perspectives, behaviors, andrelationships compared to being a trainee. Forinstance, my value to the organization is no lon-ger determined solely by my individual perfor-mance, but by my team’s productivity and effec-tiveness. Understanding the team members’personalities, motivations, strengths, and weak-nesses has become as important, if not more so,as the technical aspects of operating a laborato-ry.”—Yan Zhang, Rochester, NY

DOI: 10.1373/clinchem.2012.199034

2013 Question #1Cancer has been around forcenturies, and over the last 50years many optimistic viewshave been expressed regard-ing breakthroughs that woulddramatically reduce the bur-den of cancer. Most predic-tions for finding a cancercure have not yet been real-ized, however. Do you thinkthat cancer will become ahighly treatable disease in thefuture? If so, when do you pre-dict that will happen? Five, 10,

15, or 20 years from now?

E-MAIL YOUR ANSWERAND A PHOTOGRAPH OF

YOURSELF TO:

quovadis@aacc.org

Answers must be submitted byJanuary 18, 2013. Please in-clude your full name and ad-

dress with all submissions.

Quo Vadis?

332 Clinical Chemistry 59:1 (2013)