Teristella

NASA astronauts have been using the Soyuz to travel to the ISS and hopefully will be able to transition to the SpaceX Dragon in coming years. Do you foresee NASA's SLS program coming to fruition or is cooperation with the private sector the new future of space travel?

Tracking for my of signed copy of your book says it's out for delivery! I look forward to that when I get home today. Saw you speak in Gainesville, FL last year and greatly enjoyed it.

Oh my god. Husband told me to buy whatever vacuum I wanted last week and I got a Miele Twist. I've never enjoyed vacuuming even a little until that baby. So nice.

I don't know about most accurate, but House is REALLY inaccurate. The docs strolling into the lab to test their own stuff? No way.

Hi! I was lucky enough to do a rotation at my state's Department of Health where this testing was performed. Every day the mail came in with what seemed like hundreds of these, and the techs would have to check to be sure the information was filled out correctly and the circles filled to their standards, then process the samples. From the circles filled with blood, they used a machine to punch out as many tiny circles as possible (it was a mini hole punch — probably 1/8th of an inch?).

The rest is a bit hazy because they did the testing in the afternoon and I was only there for the morning, but they gave me an overview. I believe they essentially washed the blood out of the paper and then tested that using tandem mass spectrometry.

I see this field as a good one for someone who doesn't enjoy a lot of patient interaction, but still wants to feel involved in the clinical care of patients. Depending on your education and your willingness to move around, the opportunities for upward mobility change significantly. If you're willing to relocate, that's a huge help. You can move to a more specialized reference or research laboratory, or into a supervisory/administration position.

There are also positions in this field for contracted 'travelers' -- techs who sign a short contract to work in various places, usually 3-6 months. I've known travelers who worked in Hawaii, California, New York and places like St. Thomas/Virgin Islands.