I shadowed, worked, and interned at a number of places to figure out what I wanted to do..or not do.

• A veterinarian career was quickly ruled out as I was allergic to dogs, cats, horses, hay….
• I worked in the local pharmacy for two years in high school… too much chemistry and making conversation with the elderly who thought picking up prescriptions meant sharing their weekly plans, talking about the weather, and describing their ailments was absolutely exhausting.
• A dentistry internship made me realize that a medical career was out of the question… I immediately passed out at the first sight of blood.
• I worked in the Cytology lab one summer staining and filing slides and I may to this day still have glass embedded in my index fingers, but you have to start somewhere…
• I learned that I enjoyed the manual aspect of lab work while I was in hematology.  I liked doing the blood cell counts and differentials where the technologist had input rather than an automated machine assay. I definitely did not like preventive maintenance required for the machines.
• A supervisor from my summer internship introduced me to the Cytogenetics lab supervisor after I mentioned I liked genetics but not mice. I knew this lab was for me! The work was manual and required technologist skill and interpretation for all assays. Chromosome analysis was a puzzle…I left my resume, crossed my fingers and hoped for a job opening. Backup plan….graduate school..time to study for GREs.
• My Dad called me at campus quite some time later with a message that someone from PsychoGenetics had called.  I still laugh because when the Cytogenetics lab is really busy and/or the chromosomes are ugly or abnormal sometimes it feels like PsychoGenetics!
• I started in the Cytogenetics lab a few weeks before I graduated college.
• Chromosomes  have taken me from Syracuse to Australia and to Connecticut. I have traveled to England, Dubai, and across the USA as part of my job. I have studied Chromosomes for my Masters and Doctorate Degree (and I had to work with mice and my allergies, but worth every sniffle and sneeze.) I have written papers and grants about chromosomes to help me advance in my career at UCONN from a Lecturer to an Assistant Professor in Residence to an Associate Professor in Residence…and no plans to stop the fun anytime soon. Turns out I didn’t find just a job, rather a passion and a career.
• Ps…even though I didn’t get to be a veterinarian, I have cultured and examined chromosomes from mice, frog, goat, cow, platypus, kangaroos, wallabies, possum, fish, chicken and I believe the list will continue…