About the Website

A PASSION FOR A PROFESSION

UNLIKE ANY OTHER

How It Started

Like many things, it started with an idea. I realized their was a problem in Clinical Laboratory Science:

no one knew what CLS was.

I studied CLS at campus which was mainly a medical school. When I told other students from other health professions, they didn't know my profession existed. Medical students eyes glazed over. How was this possible?

In my school, my CLS class was so tiny compared to the scores of students in programs such as nursing, medicine, physical therapy, etc. (All the professions you think of when you first think of medicine). But why? CLS is at the forefront of diagnosing patients & medical research. Why are we so unknown? If medical school students & students from other health professions didn't even know who we are what about everyone else?

And then I realized something. When I go online to search CLS, the main resources are hard to navigate, not user-friendly & are geared for CLS professionals who were already working in the field. But when I search other professions, like nursing, there is a plethora of sources from understanding what nursing actually does to where to go to school for it.

But CLS, nope.

Sure there are sites about microbiology but not a lot of sources have all the sub-disciplines CLS in one place. And that's what I wanted to do with this website. I fell in love with this profession & I wanted others to learn about this.

What is CLS?

What do you guys do?

Why is the website called The Lab Rat Artist?

The Lab Rat Artist name came about because not only it was my personal Instagram handle for the longest time but because of my background. I was an artist about to study animation before I made the faithful decision to change my major towards the laboratory medicine.

ONE PLACE

TO LEARN

TO RECRUIT

TO NETWORK

Below you will see my works of art I personally made throughout my life. Once I fell in love with the lab and wanted to truly fulfill my desire to help others via CLS, I didn't want my creativity to die. I believe that even though I was a "lab rat", that title, my choice in occupation doesn't define who I am. I am a multifaceted being. Being "smart" doesn't just mean that's my complete identity. And that's how I feel about everyone.

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My Artwork

Learn More About The Lab Rat Artist's Story Check Out My Blog

Click Here

Everyone who comes to this website is a "lab rat". From students & professors to working laboratians and even those who stumble onto the website curiously wondering what in the world is CLS. We are all lab rats, but we are so much more.

Lab Rat Musicians, Lab Rat Book Worms, Lab Rat Chefs, Lab Rat Swimmers, Lab Rat Sports Fanatics, Lab Rat Parents, Lab Rat Crafters, Lab Rat, Lab Rat Coders, Lab Rat Outdoorsmen, Lab Rat History Buffs, Lab Rat Film Enthusiasts, Lab Rat Gardeners, Lab Rat Travelers, Lab Rat Dancers etc...

The possibilities are endless. We are all unique & bring so much to the table: our passion, drive, knowledge, personality & talents. Our diversity is also our strength and in the CLS field.

We, collectively & individually, make up the laboratory.

OuR MiSSION

Educate
Establish
Network

With our website, we hope to accomplish these three objectives.

Educate

The website's new format allows us to not only be a CLS Study Guide, but also a CLS Info Guide.

We will be building our Info Guide to help answer all your CLS questions from what is CLS to what CLS program should I do to? And of course our Study Guide to help you review for your ASCP exam.

Our website also has a blog where our blog writers post stories to help relate CLS laboratory concepts, methods and impact to the outside world. We write how CLS can be seen in artworks, TV shows, media, news reports, community events, museum exhibits, history, and so much more! This allows us to show you guys why CLS is important, where we are needed, and how we impact the world outside the laboratory.

Establish

We want our website to become your go-to place for all things CLS. We want to provide you information, study material, & inspirational stories in all things CLS. We are constantly writing and and building the website while still going to school & working, etc. We are not being paid. We are doing this because we see the problem in the recruitment gap, we are passionate in what we do and we want to share with all of you.

Like I said before, many CLS websites I've been to are not user-friendly. Since most CLS websites are geared towards CLS professionals or CLS students, they use jargon that are hard to understand for anyone outside of CLS. Our blogs & Info Guide are written so that anyone from any background can understand the importance in CLS and help navigate our profession.

But that doesn't mean that we dumb anything down. It just means we try to translate the scientific vocabulary & explain things to where anyone can understand. From nurses & doctors to high school students, anyone from any background can use our website to learn more about CLS.

We want to be the jack-of-all-trades in terms of an information site for our field. Not only do we want to help you learn about CLS, we also want to be become a hub to network.

Network

Knowledge is truly utilized once it is shared with others. In other words, "sharing is caring". For CLS to truly grow & advance, we need to be able to reach out with each other. And that's why we have the Lab Rat Forum.

Think of our forum as your CLS Reddit. Any questions you have go ahead and ask on our many forum groups. Any member will be able to write & answer. Share your stories, ask questions, etc. No question is too small, no story is insignificant.

We want to build our Lab Rat community so that anyone can join:

CLS students
High school/ college students/ graduate students
CLS professionals
Professors
Other Health Care Professionals (doctors, nurses, PT, etc.)
Anyone interested in CLS, health care, med school, biology, microbiology, chemistry etc.

Also Follow us on Instagram:

@thelabratartist

We post about website announcements, interesting CLS facts & study materials, & have quizzes related to CLS concepts you would see on tests. Check out our stories too!