School of Medicine & Health Sciences celebrates 75 years of medical laboratory science at UND Homecoming

GRAND FORKS, N.D.—The UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) is welcoming graduates from each of its many healthcare programs for UND Homecoming 2024, Sept. 23-28.

Taking this spotlight this year is the School’s Department of Medical Laboratory Science (MLS), which is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024.

Reflecting on the department’s maturation, MLS chair Brooke Solberg explained how after practicing MLS in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for a few years, the Rolla, N.D., native made her way back up to North Dakota for a role in what was then a “new” department (the former program in “clinical laboratory science” having changed its name in 2011).

Since then, it has been Solberg’s job to help raise the profile of a traditionally behind-the-scenes profession that sometimes struggles with the ironic double bind of its own “invisibility” – the result of its placement in the background of hospitals and clinics and a national workforce shortage within the profession.

“I joke that my family still doesn’t know what I do,” Solberg laughed, noting how explaining the laboratorian’s job isn’t as self-evident as it seems. “We’re behind the scenes, so many people assume we get their blood sample and voila – you get a test result. But it’s what happens in-between – all those steps analyzing results – that really define us as medical laboratory scientists.”

To that point, the need for continuous and quality laboratory testing that accompanied the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic helped shine a spotlight on MLS in 2020 and after, helping it become less invisible.

“Since COVID, there are certainly more people who are aware of testing and how important lab analysis is,” Solberg mused. “I definitely think there is more awareness now, but that doesn’t automatically translate to an obvious boost in enrollment or lessening of the existing workforce shortage.”

This, then, is the charge for Solberg’s team: maintain – if not grow – a profession that is clamoring, if the reader will excuse the pun, for new blood.

“Health facilities want to hire, but they’re having a hard time,” Solberg said. “We’re getting contacted almost constantly. Employers tell us: ‘Your grads – send them our way.’ So, we definitely see the need for more MLS professionals.”

As the star of the annual SMHS Homecoming Banquet this year, MLS will be the focus of Solberg’s comments to UND alumni who are back in Grand Forks not only for Homecoming events but for the UND football game taking place that weekend.

Events at the SMHS kick-off with a Continuing Education Symposium from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 27. The multidisciplinary symposium will focus on artificial intelligence (A.I.) in clinical practice and health education and will feature presenters representing not only UND but Mayo Clinic, Sanford Health, and Essentia Health.

The symposium, which is open to all health providers and can be accessed virtually, includes the following presentations:

“Balancing A.I. Power and Explainability with Medical Ethics and the Hippocratic Oath” - Richard Van Eck (UND)
“Understanding A.I. literacy: Implications for practice” - Janet Anderson, MLS; Devon Olson, MLIS; and Sara Westall, MLIS (UND)
“Microsoft Copilot: Leveraging Innovation and Technology for Teaching and Learning” - Jennifer Allen, MEd; Elissa Hall, EdD, MA; and Kristyna M. Myers, MS, MSEd (Mayo Clinic)
“A.I. in Healthcare: Essentia Health’s Journey from Pilot to Practice” - Leo Bay, DO, and Niall Klyn, PhD (Essentia Health)
“Clinical and Healthcare Administrative Applications of A.I.” - Dinesh Bande, MD, and Gopikrishna Paladugu, MD (UND and Sanford Health)

Anyone interested in registering for the continuing education symposium can do so online at: med.UND.edu/events/homecoming.

Later that day, the School will host an open house for its Indians Into Medicine (INMED) program in SMHS Room E251 (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and a banquet for SMHS alumni at Ely’s Ivy in downtown Grand Forks.

In addition to honoring all milestone alumni and the 75th anniversary of MLS, the School will recognize 70 years of occupational therapy at UND.

Homecoming 2024 wraps up for the SMHS on Saturday, Sept. 28, when it participates in UND’s annual Homecoming Parade, which begins at 9 a.m. and follows a route along University Ave. between Columbia Rd. and Stanford Rd.

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Brian James Schill
Director, Office of Alumni & Community Relations
UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences
701.777.6048 direct | 701.777.4305 office
brian.schill@UND.edu | www.UND.edu