Volume 40 Number 3 | June 2026
Summary

This article argues that medical laboratory science programs must evolve to prepare professionals for expanded roles in population health. It highlights integrating public health competencies, community engagement, and service-learning into curricula, enabling laboratorians to connect lab data with broader health trends and actively contribute to community health, education, and disease surveillance efforts.

Bai Li, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CMSH, ASCLS Patient Safety and Diagnostic Stewardship Committee Member

Bai LiLaboratory professionals are highly technical by training, and that primary focus on details has become a defining part of our professional identity. We have been working behind the scenes, with limited direct patient interaction, a common feature highlighted by many MLS programs. However, as the healthcare system evolves, I have witnessed the expansion of our profession beyond the clinical laboratory, as MLS professionals branch into public health laboratories and engage in broader conversations with patients and communities to serve population health. Therefore, integrating public health and community outreach into MLS programs can be a meaningful step forward in better preparing the next generation of lab professionals.

Community-Centered Participatory Approaches

Among the many reasons why a student chooses to study medical laboratory science is that their work helps people. Connection with people is therefore desired by MLS students, but it is not specifically cultivated in the field because of the reality of working behind the scenes. The addition of community-engaged pedagogy could fill this gap by offering the necessary experience for students to actively engage with the public. A few models established by other health science related programs can be instructive.

A longitudinal, multi‑semester, service-learning model can be integrated into the curriculum to link classroom learning with community projects. Students collaboratively work in teams to undertake projects that address community needs. Through this experience, they build leadership, communication, and systems thinking skills.1 Another example is to co-design with community collaborators of a three-course sequence, in which students co-produce authentic work, including needs assessments and project plans, with evaluation incorporating community partner input.2 These proven examples offer a clear path for MLS programs to integrate similar components into relevant courses.

“Among the many reasons why a student chooses to study medical laboratory science is that their work helps people. Connection with people is therefore desired by MLS students, but it is not specifically cultivated in the field because of the reality of working behind the scenes.”

Integrating academic instruction with meaningful community service is another promising direction. Service-learning programs provide opportunities for students to engage with community sites as educators or mentors and to develop health education materials.3 Skills such as community awareness, patient interaction, and teamwork are translating into clinical practice, which is positively reported by alumni.3 Student-led health screening events or laboratory test education workshops can be organized as service-learning activities for MLS students. These initiatives align well with interprofessional education and are highly valued by many National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS)-accredited programs.4

Integrating Public Health Competencies into MLS Curricula

The COVID-19 pandemic reinforces an important fact: the clinical laboratory’s role extends far beyond the bench. When COVID-19 hit, clinical laboratories immediately took on extended roles in their communities, ranging  from rapid test development5 to supporting community surveillance and offering community tests.6 For the laboratory to be able to rapidly respond to public health events, laboratory professionals need to understand the concept of epidemiology, disease surveillance, and social determinants of health.

The Clinical Lab 2.0 (project) has begun to envision the future clinical laboratory model, where the laboratory actively shifts from volume-based service to value-based service. For laboratory professionals, this means our task will transition from answering, “What are the lab results for my patient?” to, “How do these results help us understand the disease pattern for my patient?” Increasingly, clinical laboratory data are being viewed through a population health lens, which provides significant value in recognizing epidemiologic patterns and gauging health of communities.7

Many health science programs, including some medical laboratory training programs have started to move in that direction. Gutierrez et al incorporated a public health course into a few health sciences program curricula which showed significant competency gains across all eight public health domains with the strongest improvements in analytical and assessment skills.8 The Portland Community College Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) Program took a step further by building a competency-based curriculum that maps CDC Public Health Laboratory Competency Guidelines directly to program objectives and NAACLS evaluation domains. This created a structured, measurable pathway for embedding public health skills into laboratory education.9

Linking Laboratory Data to Population Health

Metadata, such as geographic location, age, and social determinants of health, combined with aggregate longitudinal laboratory data has promising potential for identifying, stratifying, tracking, and monitoring patients for disease surveillance and targeted interventions.7 One of the studies in Clinical Lab 2.0 demonstrated how laboratory data were used to support diabetes surveillance programs and enable clinical strategies that improve outcomes while reducing costs.7 Understanding laboratory data in the context of population health will not only benefit public health but also broaden career opportunities for future lab professionals.

Faculty Experiences and Curriculum Development

Proposed innovative curriculum changes include:

  • Adding basic courses providing public health concepts
  • Metadata management and analysis
  • Community collaboration work coupled together with service-learning practices

All components can be reasonably offered at the undergraduate, master’s, or doctoral level. Implementing these changes will not be easy. Faculty and programs will be expected to secure funding, achieve administrative buy-in, and build community partnerships.10 Beyond the change in course work, an evaluation framework needs to be established that incorporates feedback from students, community partners, alumni, and employers. Finally, strong support from accrediting agencies such as NAACLS is also necessary for changes to move forward in a lasting way.

As laboratory professionals increasingly bridge hospital practice with public health surveillance, research, and community testing, MLS faculty must champion curriculum transformation. By integrating public health competencies, fostering community partnerships, connecting laboratory data to population health, and implementing service-learning practices, we will better prepare our graduates for the profession’s expanding role in population health.

References

  1. Horigian VE, Perrino T, Kornfeld J, Schmidt RD, Gonzalez ST. The Learning Collaboratory: developing and evaluating public health students’ skills while promoting community health. Front Public Health. 2023;11:1269840. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1269840
  2. Meredith GRF. Community engaged teaching, research and practice: A catalyst for public health improvement. Mich J Community Serv Learn. 2020;26(1). doi:10.3998/mjcsloa.3239521.0026.106
  3. Badlis S, Poole E, Siegle H, Tyburski S, Lipman TH. Impact of engagement in the Community Champions program on clinical nursing practice. J Nurs Educ Pract. 2023;13(5):1. doi:10.5430/jnep.v13n5p1
  4. Bamfield-Cummings S, Bufkin K, Jones S, Bayhaghi G, Kashyap H, De Leo G. Interprofessional education in NAACLS MLT and MLS programs: results of a national survey. Lab Med. 2023;54(6):555-561. doi:10.1093/labmed/lmad006
  5. Carolina professor leads COVID-19 testing at UNC Medical Center | UNC-Chapel Hill. Accessed March 20, 2026. https://www.unc.edu/discover/carolina-professor-leads-covid-19-testing-at-unc-medical-center/
  6. Li B, Donnachie E, Adebusuyi T, Meshack A, Poon I. Adopting Covid-19 and Flu Testing Strategies In An Underserved Community. Am J Clin Pathol. 2024;162(Supplement_1):S35-S36. doi:10.1093/ajcp/aqae129.077
  7. Shotorbani KR, Swanson KM, Bailey B. Future role of the clinical lab in population health. Popul Health Manag. 2022;25(5):692-694. doi:10.1089/pop.2021.0167
  8. Gutierrez C, Johnston S. Fit for population health service: assessing the change in public health competencies of interprofessional undergraduate health sciences students. Int J Health Sci Educ. 2020;7(1). doi:10.59942/2325-9981.1097
  9. Wolfe TM, Nickla RE. Integration of the centers for disease control competency guidelines for public health laboratory professionals into a medical laboratory training program. Clin Lab Sci. 2020;33(4):70-70. doi:10.29074/ascls.2020002444
  10. Khalid MU, Mahboob O, Khan S, Manji FN, Pawa J. Integrating public health into undergraduate medicine in north america: A systematic review. Cureus. 2023;15(3):e36284. doi:10.7759/cureus.36284

Bai Li is Assistant Professor, Clinical Laboratory Science, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.