Emergent: COVID-19 Narratives of Laboratory Professionals is a collection of narratives that demonstrate the sheer will, ingenuity, and resilience of the laboratory profession during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, the profession experienced a historic ascent from virus identification to diagnostic test creation that was nonetheless grueling and isolating for many. The crippling pressure left none unscathed. 

Laboratory professionals form the backbone of healthcare and the public health system. They conduct about 13 billion laboratory medicine tests annually in the United States alone. Laboratory testing is the single highest-volume activity affecting Americans from cradle to grave, and it drives about two-thirds of all decisions made by doctors and other healthcare professionals. Every time you enter a hospital or healthcare facility for care, your life is in the hands of a laboratory professional.

This unique aggregate of curated narratives will inform the medical community and public at large how professionals in diagnostic laboratories rose to the pandemic’s challenges while grappling with their own scarcity, humanity, ethics, and mental health. By August 2020, this hidden workforce had performed over 79 million COVID-19 tests and created seven test systems. They accomplished this at a decimated staffing rate of 1 laboratory professional for every 1,129 persons in the United States. Thus, Emergent asks the provocative question: How can this profession be hailed as heroic and left forgotten at the brink of extinction?

Emergent’s riveting and inspiring narratives bring visibility to those who worked tirelessly in obscure shadows but never gave up. These laboratory voices provide a new behind-the-scenes lens to the pandemic experience. From participating in the development of the first emergency use test to being thrust into a voice for campaigns against misinformation, Emergent has it all from the first-hand, boots-on-the-ground individuals who lived it.

Dr. Melody Boudreaux Nelson, DCLS, NRCC-CC, MS, MLS (ASCP)cm, Clinical Assistant Professor & Assistant Clinical Director of Core Lab, The University of Kansas Medical Center / University of Kansas Physicians, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Dr. Rodney E. Rohde, PhD SM (ASCP)CM, SVCM, MBCM, FACs, Global Fellow, Regents’ Professor, Texas State University System, University Distinguished Professor & Chair: Medical Laboratory Science Program for the College of Health Professions at Texas State University & Associate Director of Engagement – Translational Health Research Center