EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
BECOMING HEAD OF MEDICAL LABORATORY
Are your students fascinated by biology and chemistry? Are they motivated to improve people’s health conditions? Are they curious to learn how virus and bacteria can be treated? Do they excel in analytical reasoning, problem solving and people management? If they fit in this description, they could become a STEM professional in the field of Genetics and Bioengineering! This job profile requires curiosity, flexibility, personal responsibility and good self-discipline. Scroll down and get to know Halida Avdihožić, Head of Medical Laboratory at NALAZ, Institute for Biomedical Diagnostics and Research!
Meet Halida Avdihožić
For this STEM Job Profile, we talked to Halida Avdihožić. As Head of Medical Laboratory at NALAZ, Halida oversees patients’ medical tests and supervises research in topics such as medicine, epidemiology and genetics. In addition, she is passionate about inspiring students to follow this career path. In fact, Halida receives and trains many prospective laboratory technicians in her everyday work.
“I have always wanted to work in a scientific profession where I could help people. This job was an ideal match for me because I can work with patients, helping them determine specific health issues so that they can receive proper medical treatment as soon as possible. I was also inspired by educating young people, let them gain valuable professional experience and influence in some way their choice of profession.”
Curious to find out more about this job? Read about the related skills and scroll down to find and download her career sheet!
SKILLS
Find out the key skills to becoming Head of Medical Laboratory.
Analytical Reasoning
You will need to be able to comprehend and analyse data in your everyday job. For example, to determine if a medical test produced viable results.
Problem-solving
It is essential to be able to resolve issues quickly because health and wellbeing of patients depends on the results of your work.
People management
As Head of Medical Laboratory you work in a complex setting, with many skilled professionals. This skill is required to manage your team efficiently. For instance, by giving each member tasks according to their expertise.
Strategic Planning
In a lab there are many reagents, expendables and other resources that must be purchased in advance. Moreover, working with infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses, requires operations to be strategically planned out to minimize errors.
Personal Responsibility
This is a very much desirable skill since other people’s health is in your hands. It is important to understand that this role implies a high degree of responsibility.
Self-discipline
As you are working with small samples and sensitive equipment, every process requires extreme attention and precision.
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Advice to take away
“Never give up doing what you are passionate about, even though sometimes the road will not be easy, and it will require a lot of hard work, struggle, and self-sacrifice. Eventually, you will end up getting there! It is also important to choose the subject of your interest well, be at peace with your choice and embrace it, find a mentor you enjoy working with, and be persistent until you succeed.”
– Halida Avdihožić
This career sheet was submitted by Jasin Hodzic and is among the winners of the STEM Alliance & STE(A)M IT – Professionals Go Back to Schools Competition 2021.
The STE(A)M IT project has received funding from the European Union’s ERASMUS+ programme project STE(A)M IT (Grant agreement 612845-EPP-1-2019-BE-EPPKA3-PI-FORWARD) coordinated by European Schoolnet (EUN). The content of the document is the sole responsibility of the organizer and it does not represent the opinion of the European Commission (EC), and the EC is not responsible for any use that might be made of the information contained.
