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Congratulations to ASCP’s 40 Under Forty PA Honorees!
    
The ASCP 40 Under Forty program recognizes members under the age of 40 for their achievements and leadership qualities that are making an impact on pathology and laboratory medicine. Pathologists, Laboratory Professionals, and Residents are chosen annually through an application or nomination process. The program has recognized worthy members of the laboratory team both nationally and internationally.
Five individuals are selected as the 40 Under Forty Top Five through a combination of public voting and committee selection.
This year, five of our very own AAPA colleagues have been selected to receive this honor: Lainee Bulawa-Regner, Juniper Fedor, Rachel Poon, Erica M. Reed, and Adam Tegnander. Read about their accomplishments below and share your congratulations!
Lainee Bulawa-Regner, MS, PA(ASCP)CM
Lainee Bulawa-Regner, MS, PA(ASCP)CM, is a pathologists’ assistant at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. She completed her master’s degree in Pathologists’ Assistant studies at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, in North Chicago, Illinois, in 2018. She received her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Viterbo University, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. She is a member of ASCP, in addition to her role as a fellow member of the American Association for Pathologists’ Assistants (AAPA), where she serves as the photography curator and on the editorial team for the Grossing Guidelines joint publication with the College of American Pathologists (CAP). For her work on this project, she has received the AAPA’s 2022 Rising Star Award.
Outside of surgical and autopsy pathology, Ms. Bulawa-Regner has special interests in pathology clinical education and placental microscopy, an innovative field for the pathologists’ assistants at Mayo Clinic. Education is one of her top inspirations at work, and she strives to create learning environments and tools that are adaptable to every type of learner in the pathology laboratory, from shadowing students to residents and fellows.
At Mayo Clinic, Ms. Bulawa-Regner serves as the resident education coordinator for the Pathologists’ Assistant team and is the assistant director of the Pathologists’ Assistant Student Clinical Rotation Program. In these roles, she has worked to develop grossing education materials for residents and rotating pathologists’ assistant students, using Mayo’s online educational platform.
Juniper Fedor, PA(ASCP)CM
Juniper Fedor, PA(ASCP)CM, is a pathologists’ assistant in the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office in Atlanta, Georgia. A board-certified pathologists’ assistant, he is a member of ASCP, the American Association of Pathologists’ Assistants, and the National Association of Medical Examiners, and is a certified diplomate of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators.
Since graduating from the Wayne State University Pathologists’ Assistant Program in 2022, he has advocated for greater awareness of diverse and marginalized voices, specifically within the pathology profession. As a founder and chair of the AAPA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Subcommittee, he and the DEI subcommittee seek to address issues pertaining to diversity and inclusion within the pathologists’ assistant community.
He recently gave a presentation at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, on the importance of accurately reporting, investigating, and examining gender diverse decedents in forensic pathology and medicolegal death investigations. He also has a strong interest in organizing and facilitating educational presentations for medical professionals and students on DEI topics, such as diversity in the field of deathcare (defined as the planning, provision, and improvement of post-death services, policy, and governance), microaggressions in the medical workforce, and healthcare advocacy for the Muslim community. As part of his advocacy efforts, Juniper supports the use of pathologists’ assistants in forensics to help alleviate the workforce shortage.
Rachel Poon, MHA, MS, PA(ASCP)CM
Rachel Poon, MHA, MS, PA(ASCP)CM, is passionate about pathology and research involving human biospecimens. She is currently the biobank technical director for the Human Tissue Resource Center at the University of Chicago. Her primary role is to provide University of Chicago investigators with a centralized infrastructure for research involving human biospecimens.
Ms. Poon received a Master of Science in pathologists’ assistant studies from Rosalind Franklin University, in North Chicago, Illinois, and a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from the University of Illinois at Chicago. During her prior role, as supervisor of surgical and autopsy pathology at UChicago Medicine, she earned a Master of Healthcare Administration from Valparaiso University. She is an active fellow member of the American Association of Pathologists’ Assistants (AAPA) and has been the AAPA advertising sales chair since 2017.
For Ms. Poon, receiving the honor of ASCP’s Top 40 Under Forty is “exciting and humbling.” She hopes this honor will serve as a steppingstone to help promote her two main goals: bridging the gap between clinical care and clinical research and increasing the involvement of medical laboratory professionals in translational research. Her vision is for clinical care and clinical research to work seamlessly together to advance translational research, provide quality patient care, and improve healthcare.
Erica M. Reed, MS, HTL(ASCP)CMPACM
Erica M. Reed, MS, HTL(ASCP)CMPACM, is a pathologists’ assistant and a medicolegal death investigator. She completed her master’s in science as a pathologists’ assistant at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, followed by certification as medicolegal death investigator. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, followed by certification as a histotechnologist at the Mayo School of Health Sciences in Rochester, Minnesota.
Ms. Reed is a fellow of the American Association of Pathologists’ Assistants where she serves on the Forensic Task Force. She is also active with the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators and the Society of Medicolegal Death Investigators.
Within Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine, she has been active in anatomic pathology education, helping to advance the Surgical Pathology Fellowship Training Program and developing the Frozen Section Simulation Curriculum. She is the lead for the grossing team for the genitourinary core rotation and is heavily involved as a resident trainer and rotation evaluator for both surgical and autopsy pathology. Ms. Reed specializes and assists in the interpretation of placental pathology and the grossing of opthalmic specimens. She has presented various topics to residents for morning lectures and presented lectures at Mayo Clinic’s Basics Series for the educational benefit of laboratory staff. An advocate for quality improvement, she has been active in Autopsy and Medical Examiner’s Office improvement projects and has presented on this topic at national conferences. For this, she has received the Mayo Clinic Gold Quality Certification.
Ms. Reed is the Forensic Science Internship director for the Mayo School of Health Sciences and the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office. She has expanded the program to include five undergraduate college affiliates and developed rotational opportunities within the department, offering a well-rounded and diverse pathology experience. This serves as an invaluable resource for undergraduates looking to enter the field of pathology. Ms. Reed serves on interview panels, creates interns’ schedules, enjoys instructing, and also provides end-of-term course term evaluations. She places a high level of effort into recruitment, participates in a criminal justice mentorship program, and takes time to go to local colleges to talk about the forensic field and pathology career opportunities.
Ms. Reed is active within the Mayo Clinic Institutional Bereavement Committee and has a strong interest in the development of community outreach and resources, especially for pediatric patients and families. She also participates in Mayo Clinic’s Emerging Leaders Committee. In addition, she has participated in research projects and presented at regional and national conferences and has contributed as an editor for two editions of The AAPA Grossing Guideline Protocols.
Adam Tegnander, HT(ASCP)PACM
Adam Tegnander, HT(ASCP)PACM, is an associate professor of biology and director of the Histotechnology Program at the State University of New York (SUNY), College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill, in Cobleskill, New York. He is ASCP-certified and New York State licensed as a histotechnician and a pathologists’ assistant. In addition, he serves on the New York State Board for Clinical Laboratory Science and Pathologists’ Assistant.
Mr. Tegnander completed his undergraduate education at SUNY Cobleskill, where he received an associate of applied science degree, and SUNY-Oneonta, where he earned a bachelor of science. He earned a master of health science from the Pathologists’ Assistant program at Quinnipiac University.
Mr. Tegnander is an undergraduate educator who has a passion for promoting the laboratory profession and pathology-related careers. Among his interests, Mr. Tegnander enjoys visiting middle and high schools as an ASCP Career Ambassador, exposing future laboratory professionals to the possibilities in laboratory medicine, while educating them that histology is not the study of history and that pathology is not the study of paths or hiking trails!
His greatest role is serving as a mentor for the students entering into the Histotechnology Program at SUNY Cobleskill. His role as an educator allows him to instill his passion for laboratory science, while maintaining high academic rigor for future laboratory professionals. Mr. Tegnander’s primary professional goal is to assist in addressing the laboratory workforce shortage through collaboration with industry partners, innovative delivery of educational content, and visiting as many young scientists as possible.
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