New director named for medical program

Susan Bettker

There is a new director and rebranding of the former Medical Technology program to Medical Laboratory Science in place for the 2024-2025 academic year at the State University of New York at Fredonia.

Susan Bettker, an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Biology and a longtime medical laboratory scientist at Brooks-TLC Hospital System in Dunkirk, NY, is leading the program whose graduates have built a stellar track record of career success for decades. Multiple job offers typically accompany students who are on course to complete their one-year hospital internship, fulfill SUNY Fredonia graduation requirements and obtain national certification.

“I enjoy working with students, enjoy training new staff at the hospital and personally find this work to be fascinating, even after all these years,” Ms. Bettker commented. She served full-time as a medical laboratory scientist at Brooks-TLC for 13 years before joining the SUNY Fredonia program in 2023. While at Brooks-TLC, Bettker supervised medical technology students from another university in the hospital’s microbiology department.

A 2007 SUNY Fredonia alumnus, Bettker describes herself as very passionate about the profession and eager to conduct outreach that can bring the profession to the forefront of public awareness as another career field in medicine. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Medical Technology and is currently enrolled in the online M.S. in Biology program, with an emphasis in Education, at Grand Canyon University.

“This is a very lucrative field, and we can attract more students,” Bettker commented. Open positions are available nationwide, she reported, and there is a need for medical laboratory scientists at virtually every hospital in Western New York, Bettker added, where starting wages range from $30 to $40 per hour.

SUNY Fredonia’s program recently added Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, to its list of accredited hospitals where students, as seniors, serve one-year clinical internships. The hospitals include UPMC Chautauqua in Jamestown, NY; Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie, PA; Rochester (NY) General Hospital and Monmouth Medical Center on Long Island, NY.

Medical laboratory scientists perform a variety of tests on blood and body fluids to assist physicians in the diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and prevention of diseases.

All medical technology programs across the nation have renamed their respective programs following the decision of the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), the national accrediting organization, to change the name of its Board of Certification exam to more accurately describe the profession, Bettker explained.

There are no changes in SUNY Fredonia’s curriculum or requirements due to the new name.

Upon passing the ASCP’s national board certification exam, graduates become eligible for licensure through the New York State Education Department Office of the Professions. Clinical laboratory technologists working in New York state hospitals are required to have a Medical Laboratory Science degree and New York state licensure.

All 2024 graduates whose clinical internships were at UPMC Chautauqua passed the ASCP Board of Certification exam and two of them were hired by Brooks-TLC.

A Western New York native and graduate of Gowanda (NY) Central High School, Bettker was elected to the Gowanda Central School District Board of Education earlier this year.