COLA, a national laboratory accreditor and an advocate for quality in laboratory medicine and patient care, has awarded 19 laboratory science students studying at East Coast colleges and universities with a $500 scholarship, for a total of $9,500. The COLAcares Scholarship awards stem from COLA’s GiveBack365 initiative. GiveBack365 was designed to foster awareness of careers in the medical laboratory industry and to provide support to aspiring laboratorians.
The 2016 winners are: Anita Rachel Abraham, Rachel Childs, Quy-Hien Riley Dang, Savannah Drake and Kaitlin Pierce (Virginia Commonwealth University); Ayomikun Adebayo (Morgan State University); Kesiena Apojetavwo (Dutchess Community College); Mercedes Brinn (Beaufort County Community College); Hana Chammack (University of Delaware); Yuka Forrest and Sasha Lombardo (Anne Arundel Community College); Seana Fraser (The George Washington University); Morgan Hunsecker (Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences); Deksissa Kejela (University of Maryland); Monica Matamoros (Davidson County Community College); Amanda Stamatelaky (Tidewater Community College); Erin Wambaugh (West Virginia University); Emily Zelger (York College of Pennsylvania); and Ariel Holder (Community College of Baltimore County).
The scholarships are being funded in part through the generosity of industry sponsorships from Carolina Liquid Chemistries and Medica Corporation (Gold Level – $2,500 each) and Merge (Silver Level -$1,500).
COLA established the scholarship program in 2012 to attract more students to the laboratory profession and to create greater awareness of the importance of quality lab practices in the delivery of safe, effective health care.
“COLA and our program sponsors are proud to provide this financial support to these deserving students, each of whom met the scholarship’s exacting criteria demonstrating their success in their respective institution’s Medical Laboratory Science or Technology programs,” said Douglas Beigel, CEO of COLA. “With a projected increase in the number of current laboratory job vacancies in the U.S., these scholarships will help the next generation pursue clinical laboratory science careers. Most important, it will enable them to make a difference in the lives of patients.”
In 2015, COLA awarded $5,000 in scholarships to ten laboratory science students. The laboratory accreditor has also funded a $25,000 endowment to expand the Medical Laboratory Technician program at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD, where the organization’s headquarters are located.
About COLA
COLA accredits nearly 8,000 medical laboratories and provides the clinical laboratory with a program of education, consultation, and accreditation. The organization is an independent, non-profit accreditor whose education program and standards enable clinical laboratories and staff to meet U.S. CLIA and other regulatory requirements. COLA is recognized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a deemed accrediting organization. COLA’s program is endorsed by the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American College of Physicians (ACP), and is also recognized by The Joint Commission. For more information about COLA accreditation services and educational products, and online educational opportunities, please call 800-981-9883 or visit COLA’s web site at www.cola.org
About Carolina Liquid Chemistries
Carolina Liquid Chemistries provides FDA-cleared chemistry instruments and reagents to all sizes of clinical laboratories. The company offers a number of technologically advanced analyzers – the CLC6410, CLC1600 and CLC800 – as well as refurbished Olympus analyzers. CLC offers a wide variety of reagents for clinical laboratories, from general chemistry reagents to drugs of abuse. CLIA categorization varies by assay. Founded in 1994 by Phil Shugart, Carolina Liquid Chemistries is an FDA-registered, ISO-certified, and veteran-owned company. The company offers its own service organization, application specialists, customer training center and no-charge support hotline for its valued laboratory customers. Learn more at http://carolinachemistries.com.
About Medica Corporation
Medica Corporation is a leading provider of easy-to-use, easy-to-maintain, low-cost blood testing analyzers. Based in Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A., the company is focused on the global need to reduce the cost and improve the quality of health care. Medica’s products include the EasyRA® Clinical Chemistry Analyzer, EasyLyte® analyzer, EasyBloodGas™ analyzer, and EasyCell® Assistant Image analyzer for white blood cell differentiation analysis. For more information, visit http://www.medicacorp.com.
About Merge
Merge, an IBM company, is a leading provider of innovative enterprise imaging, interoperability and clinical systems that seek to advance healthcare. Merge’s enterprise and cloud-based technologies for image intensive specialties provide access to any image, anywhere, any time. Merge also provides clinical trials software with end-to-end study support in a single platform and other intelligent health data and analytics solutions. With solutions that have been used by providers for more than 25 years, Merge is helping to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and enhance the quality of healthcare worldwide. Visit merge.com and follow us @MergeHealthcare.
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