My Background
My name is Leigh Anne Groszek and I absolutely love the HLA/transplant immunology field. I worked as a medical technologist in Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s HLA Laboratory for 7 years in St. Louis, MO. I spent an additional 2 years as a senior medical technologist in Northwestern University’s Comprehensive Transplant Center in Chicago, IL.
I have taken both the CHT (Certified Histocompatibility Technologist) and CHS (Certified Histocompatibility Specialist) exams certified by ACHI (American College of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics).
I am also certified as a MLS (Medical Laboratory Scientist) through ASCP (American Society for Clinical Pathologists).
It’s a lot of acronyms. Basically I’m a medical lab nerd who specializes in HLA. For an added bonus, I love to write, create graphics, simplify stuff, and help others learn.
I’m currently working on my masters degree through Northwestern University’s Masters of Science in Regulatory Compliance.
My Vision
For years I trained technologists on the bench and enjoyed creating perspective for those who were looking to learn the science of HLA. Now, however, I’ve upgraded my lab-napkin and sticky-note drawings to a website. Snazzy.
My hope for this site is to create a comprehensive space for learning all about histocompatibility, starting at the basics, and provide a variety of resources along the way. Some of these resources I’ll create myself while some will be links I’ve found useful in my own studies. All in one place.
I want to contribute to knowledge growth in this field because I believe it grows our field as a whole.
I know that learning immunogenetics/histocompatibility can be a struggle. I know that finding alternative resources is difficult. I’ve been that person and I’ve helped those people. Information is a bit scattered and tends to assume a certain amount of knowledge. I don’t want to do that. Let’s get back to basics.
Join me and help me create this learning space.
Please reach out to me if:
- There’s any way I can aid in your learning
- you have questions and want help answering them. If I can’t answer them myself I’ll point you in the direction of further information.
- you have topic requests (ELISA assays, SSO, CDC crossmatches, etc)
- you have material requests (graphics, flashcards, etc)
- you notice any errors on the site or in the material itself (I always leave room to learn more!)
- you’d love to chat about science!
I look forward to hanging out with you all on this brand-spanking-new adventure!
~Leigh Anne (aka LAG)
