For Alvin Leung (Medical Laboratory Science ’11), the questions he asks outside of the lab are just as important as the ones he asks inside of it. Since transitioning from the bench to the commercial side of medical laboratory sciences in 2018, Alvin has been working with clients in labs and blood banks across Ontario and Eastern Canada to provide support, install instrumentation and train other medical laboratory technologists (MLTs) in highly specialized lab equipment.
After graduating from Michener in 2011, Alvin got his start as an MLT at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, the same place he completed his clinical rotations. From there, Alvin was recruited to work as an applications specialist with Werfen, an international company that specializes developing and manufacturing in biomedical diagnostic equipment.
“It was a big shift from the bench,” Alvin explains. He transitioned to a customer-facing role that lets him travel, visit different labs and dig deep into what makes other MLTs tick.
“If a customer is having an issue, my job is to ask the probing questions to really get to the bottom of it.”
It’s these questions that get to the heart of Alvin’s career: whether he’s helping clients trouble-shoot or solve a problem, or from his days running antibody screenings in the lab, asking the right questions is what leads him to a solution, and has led his career far beyond the lab.
“There’s so much you can do with a Michener degree,” Alvin says. “Whether you go into project management, work in a commercial field like I do, or get into quality management, there’s always room for advancement.”
