Mayo Clinic provides training for SOAHS students

Since inception of a partnership in 2003 with the Mayo School of Health Sciences for a master’s degree in molecular pathology, 10 Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center students have completed internships at the prestigious medical center.

That number will double in coming years as the Mayo school has recently increased the number of TTUHSC students it will accept annually from two to four. TTUHSC is one of only two universities that have partnerships with the Mayo for degrees in molecular pathology. Northern Michigan University has an undergraduate degree partnership with Mayo.

“We believe this is a result of the quality and caliber of students we have in our program,” said Lori Rice-Spearman, MT (ASCP), M.S., program director of Molecular Pathology in TTUSHC’s School of Allied Health Sciences.

SOAHS students pursuing a Master of Science degree in molecular pathology take the required coursework at TTUHSC and then complete clinical training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., or at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

TTUHSC was the first in the nation to have an accredited molecular pathology program, which has graduated 63 students. To date, four of the 10 TTUHSC students who completed internships at the Mayo Clinic are now employed there as testing personnel and research technicians. Other graduates are employed nationwide in molecular clinical laboratories, industry and forensics. Thirteen are in medical school.

 “Our Master of Science in Molecular Pathology program continues to grow in stature as it matures,” said School of Allied Health Sciences Dean Paul Brooke Jr. “This program continues to be one of our gemstones. Lori and her faculty have done an absolutely superb job of conceiving, developing, implementing and sustaining this program.”