Lab professionals play key role in public health

Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division

The Defense Health Agency celebrated Medical Laboratory Professionals Week from April 23-29, 2023.

Medical laboratory professionals work at all levels within the U.S. Department of Defense to help identify and diagnose various health threats that may impact our forces.

“Medical laboratory scientists are health care detectives working on the front lines to provide critical information for health care providers,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Patrick Kennedy, chief of DHA’s Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division.

“In garrison, we use state-ofthe-art instrumentation and scientific methods to provide accurate and timely diagnostics to analyze all types of body fluids,” added Kennedy. In addition to his role at AFHSD, Kennedy performs two additional duties for Air Force as the Air Force Surgeon General Consultant for Laboratory and Biomedical Associate Corps Chief for Laboratory.

Lab professionals serve in various positions throughout the DOD—in military hospitals and clinics’ laboratories to diagnose disease, in research organizations searching for new ways to detect and treat disease, and as policy developers at DOD level,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Warren Conrow, director of the center for laboratory medicine services at DHA.

“We also staff donor centers and transfusion centers to ensure a lifeline of blood products; we partner with our public health partners to provide disease surveillance; we serve as executive officers, commanders, and even as directors,” he added.

“Lab analysis is critical to 80% of any medical diagnosis, and our ability to test enables leaders to make force health protection decisions (in garrison and deployed),” said Kennedy.

Conrow agreed, “The lab protects the warfighter and our military community by providing the right diagnostic information (accurate and safe lab and pathology results), performed by the right people, using the right testing guidelines, at the right time.”

Future advances for lab professionals include developments in transfusion medicine in a deployed environment to reduce casualties. Lab-supporting trauma surgery with advances in blood banking, such as low tier type O whole blood, has decreased casualty rates significantly in war zones.

Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —

The Air Force is changing the process of how First Term Airmen can retrain to provide additional opportunities for airmen to stay in uniform instead of separating.

Effective June 1, all FTA can retrain into any Air Force Specialty Code they qualify for that is under 90% manned prior to separation, even if their current AFSC is below 90% manned.

Qualified airmen must be within their retaining window and meet medical, Air Force Enlisted Classification Directory standards, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery score and physical fitness standards to be approved.

“Glad to see us make this change as it relates to retraining opportunities for the force,” said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air

Force JoAnne S. Bass. “Providing these opportunities for our airmen helps us keep talent on the bench. While this particular change impacts First Term Airmen, expect to see more initiatives like this as we evolve our policies and talent management to focus on the force of the future and building the Air Force our nation needs.”

Additionally, the FTA Retaining Selection Board is also no longer required during the retraining application process. This removes the racking-and-stacking retraining application process based on the number of quotas needed for a more streamlined ‘first in, first out’ process. Phase 1 FTA retraining quotas will be open to all FTAs entering their retraining window during Fiscal Year 2024. The Exception to Policy will be reassessed June 1, 2024, unless it is rescinded earlier.