New River CTC’s class of 2018 MLT students, faculty and staff. Front row (l to r) Jennifer Stover, Kimberley Cozart, Sabrina Wallace and Kelsea Blevins. Back row (l to r)Administrative Assistant Tamara Rahal, Karmen Dixon, MLT Program Director Diane Tyson, MLT Instructor Robert Stanton and Alisia Shrewsberry.
[BEAVER, W.Va.] New River Community and Technical College’s medical laboratory technician program has been awarded initial accreditation from the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS). The MLT program was launched at New River CTC in the fall of 2016 and graduates from the program have a 100% job placement rate.
“There is a critical shortage of trained and certified laboratory professionals nationwide, and the shortage in southern West Virginia is becoming a health care crisis,” explained MLT Program Director Diane Tyson. “We’re thrilled to have received accreditation from NAACLS and to be able to train students to meet the need locally.”
Laboratory professionals play a vital role in health care. They perform phlebotomy and analyze tissues, blood and body fluids to help physicians diagnose and treat diseases or monitor a patient’s health.
New River CTC’s MLT program prepares graduates for technician-level positions in clinical laboratory environments in hospitals, physician’s offices, commercial laboratories, biotechnology, research laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and veterinary laboratories.
“I’ve had the opportunity to hire and work with three of New River CTC’s MLT students, and I remain impressed with their level of knowledge, their desire to continue learning and growing as they work in the lab, their work ethic, and their level of care and compassion for the patients and their coworkers,” said Plateau Medical Center Administrative Lab Director Deborah Robbins.
The MLT program is a selective admission program, meaning that students must apply to and be accepted into the program before enrolling in program coursework. Prerequisite courses include chemistry, anatomy and physiology and college algebra.
For more information about the MLT program, contact Tyson at 304-929-5038 or dtyson@newriver.edu. For information on admissions and the programs offered at New River CTC, visit www.newriver.edu, email admissions@newriver.edu or call 866-349-3739.
New River Community and Technical College serves nine counties in southeastern West Virginia from the Greenbrier Valley Campus (Lewisburg), Mercer County Campus (Princeton), Nicholas County Campus (Summersville) and Raleigh County Campus (Beaver).
