Dr. Carmen Wiley was the 2019 - 2020 President of AACC. Recently she returned to the clinical practice of laboratory medicine and serves as Clinical Medical Director at Incyte Diagnostics. In this role, she supports the new clinical lab facility located in Spokane Valley and acts as the Medical Director over the clinical labs at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, Holy Family, My Carmel, and St. Joseph’s.

Dr. Wiley holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota, a Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Washington, a Doctoral degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Washington, and was a COMACC Accredited Fellow at the Mayo School of Medicine. She is board certified by American Board of Clinical Chemistry (ABCC) and a Fellow of the Academy of the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (FAACC).

Most recently, she was the Chief Medical Officer of a start-up company based in Oakdale, MN. Previously, she was a Regional Manager of Scientific Affairs – Cardiac at Roche Diagnostics. In this role, she was responsible for leading and developing the Medical & Scientific Liaisons in their relationships with the medical/scientific community, with the objective of critical scientific exchange including medical/scientific education. Dr. Wiley played a key role in providing support to healthcare professionals as well as internal Roche scientific groups and local business teams. Dr. Wiley was the Scientific Director at PAML where she was responsible for the medical and scientific oversight of all laboratory testing and oversaw all aspects of PAML’s research and development program. Prior to that, Dr. Wiley was Co-Director of Chemistry, Immunology, and Point of Care at Providence Health and Services, Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, WA and the Head of Clinical Chemistry in the Division of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, WI.

Dr. Wiley, her husband of 21 years and two kids enjoy time spent with their three dogs. She loves hiking, camping, and knitting. She is a native to Minnesota, but now considers Spokane, WA her home.

Dr. Bystrom serves as Translational Laboratory director at Cedars-Sinai, where he is responsible for novel biomarker validation and commercialization. Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, he directed research and development at Cleveland Heart Lab and commercialized a multiplex proteomic diagnostic test focusing on HDL functionality.

What does clinical chemistry have to do with industry? What opportunities are available for me as a clinical chemistry? Join in our live interview of two clinical chemists who will share their career journey towards earning their clinical chemistry certification and their current position in various industries. Bring your questions and be ready for the networking opportunity after the interview!

I am currently a clinical chemistry fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. My clinical chemistry fellowship started at Vanderbilt University Medical Center before transitioning to JH. I received a B.S degree in Clinical Laboratory Sciences from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where I began research in laboratory medicine and toxicology. Before returning to school to earn my PhD, I served as a medical laboratory scientist at Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington in Seattle, WA in the area of hematology and coagulation. My PhD is in Pharmacology and Toxicology from Michigan State University, where my research was on the adipose tissue's adrenergic control of vasoconstriction. I completed a research postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University in Laboratory Medicine, where I studied RNA-methylation mechanisms of hematopoietic malignancies and completed collaborative research projects in clinical chemistry at the Yale New Haven Hospital on procalcitonin utility and establishing reference intervals.

Steven E. Conklin Lopez received his B.S. in Chemistry (2013) from the University of Puerto Rico – Río Piedras Campus and completed his PhD training (2019) at Duke University under the mentorship of Prof. Katherine J. Franz. As a graduate student, his research focused on understanding the role of metals and metal coordination in the chemical and biological activity of antimicrobial peptides. Currently, he is a Clinical Chemistry Fellow in the Pathology Department of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

I am a second-year fellow in the Clinical Chemistry Fellowship at Mayo Clinic. Before moving to Minnesota for fellowship, I completed my doctoral degree in Clinical-Bioanalytical Chemistry at Cleveland State University. CSU provided me with many great opportunities to learn about clinical chemistry and to be involved in the clinical chemistry community. I look forward to continuing to be an active contributor to the field in the future.

My name is Nicholas Larkey and I am currently a 2nd-year Clinical Chemistry Fellow at Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Benjamin Owusu is a Senior Clinical Chemistry Fellow at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Benjamin received his PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics and went on to do a one-year postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at the University of Ghana, where he also served as a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Biochemistry upon completion of his undergraduate training. He later moved to Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA on a visiting research scholarship prior to starting his doctoral training at UAB. His research over the years span across cancer, cardiovascular, hematological and endocrinological diseases. In addition to clinical service and research, Benjamin is passionate about teaching and mentoring, particularly in STEM education.

Which clinical chemistry program is right for me? What should I expect from the different programs? Join us in our last session of the series where you can ask your questions about the experiences of current and recent Fellows from three different clinical chemistry programs.

David Tabb, born in the U.S. Midwest, surprisingly finds himself living in South Africa after a fifteen-year transition from assistant professor to associate professor to “full” professor. While in the United States, he conducted his research in a state university, a private research institute, a national laboratory, and a private university. Since 2015, he has enjoyed the moderate climate of Cape Town, where he is completing a five-year contract in tuberculosis biomarker research at Stellenbosch University. He has survived and occasionally thrived in the rich world of clinical proteomics, where he has specialized in the informatics of protein identification from tandem mass spectrometry. He was particularly fortunate to be a bioinformatics lead for the Clinical Proteomics Technology Assessment for Cancer (CPTAC) during the first ten years of that program’s operations. His hobbies include choral singing, computer upgrading, board gaming, and cat pestering.

Proteomics is a field in constant demand in academia, industry, and the clinical lab. With the rapidly changing technology in the proteomics world, bioinformaticians who have an intimate understanding of mass spectrometry as well as computational skills are much needed. Join our Fireside Chat with clinical proteomics bioinformatician, Dr. David Tabb to learn more about a career in bioinformatics from all angles.
This session will be interactive and offers opportunities to network.