The first Lab Week Run was held in 2016 with volunteer leader Ally Storla of Georgia as the driving force. The run was created to increase visibility of laboratory professionals, promote interest in the laboratory profession, and bring together current laboratory professionals to foster relationships, connections, and recognition of laboratory professionals in the world around us. The Lab Week Run additionally was created to support ASCLS professional development activities as a fundamental principle. While planning the run, Ally reached out to medal designer and manufacturer, Ashworth Awards, where she was connected to John Breen. John eagerly took on the project as his mother, Cynthia L Breen, was a Hematologist and he was very proud of the work she did. It was a serendipitous connection that proved how powerful and important the work of laboratory professionals is.
In honor of Cynthia and John’s impact on the Lab Week Run, the ASCLS Ascending Professionals Forum(APF) has used a portion of the proceeds of the run to create an award that is administerd by the ASCLS Education & Research Fund (E&R) in Cynthia’s memory to support projects that stay true to the purpose of the Lab Week Run:
- To promote interest in the laboratory profession.
- To foster relationships among current laboratory professionals
- To strengthen recognition of laboratory professionals and their connections to the world outside the laboratory.
More information on the award can be found here.
