Elaine O'Shields

I started in the medical laboratory field in January 1991, right after graduating college with a bachelor's degree in biology. I began at a small paternity testing lab doing HLA typing, but when that lab was bought out by a large conglomerate, I didn't like the longer commute, so I applied to what was then Baptist Hospital. Within less than 90 days, I started my employment there, and I've been there ever since for 29 years. The hospital has gone through several name changes and is now Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. When I first started, I was doing HLA testing for solid organ transplants (kidney, heart, liver, pancreas) and bone marrow transplants. To be completely honest, I kind of tripped and fell into this field. I needed a job after college, and someone told me the paternity testing lab was hiring. But once I started at Baptist Hospital, I realized this was more than a job. It opened my eyes to the blessings I had that I didn't realize, as far as my health was concerned. Seeing people who need hearts just to live, who need kidney transplants to come off dialysis, while I have two healthy kidneys and a heart that will do anything I ask it to do - it hit me one day at work how blessed I am. So it became a passion of mine, and it's so much more than a job. I really feel like, for me, it's a calling. It's where I'm supposed to be. I've had other job opportunities that may have paid better, but the personal satisfaction I get from this job - you can't put a price tag on it. That's why I stayed where I am. My main area of expertise is anything DNA, anything molecular-related, the molecular typing we do for our patients and deceased donors. That's my passion, my God-given talent. I can see how things work, how they should work, and when they don't work properly, I can see it.