Our students partner with local industries to learn and practice the trade
Our Graduates at Work
Our Medical Laboratory Science students have opportunities to work with local industry partners, such as Beckman-Coulter and Medtronic, to learn about instrument and medical device development.
And we were one of the first programs to place students in non-traditional clinical training sites, such as outpatient clinics, doctors’ offices, and non-traditional laboratory settings, like the Minnesota Department of Health.
Every MLS student is exposed to four different workplace environments – urban, rural, and large and small hospitals and laboratories, through our program’s clinical experience practicum. This introduces them to a variety of cultures, resources and patient populations.
“At the University of Minnesota, they don’t just train laboratorians, they train leaders. They teach you high level synthesis problem solving skills, teamwork and the importance of collaboration. They give you the passion and drive to make this degree whatever you want it to be...That’s not something that’s written in a textbook, that’s semesters of the culturing of a person. Where I am today is 100 percent a derivative of what the MLS program has done for me.”
"What I've taken away from my classes is that we can provide a different perspective because even though we’re not meeting one-on-one with the patient all of the time, we are seeing all of their results and their history."
"It's not all about how you treat the patient as a doctor or a nurse. I think that medical laboratory scientists play an important role in the labs and helping the primary health care team diagnose and find out what could be going on with a patient. That's the root of it all."