Recognizing Your Own Strengths and Skills: A Q&A with Diana Kremitske

Women have a long history of being labeled in unfair ways. Passionate women who articulate strong beliefs are “emotional.” Those interested in science might be called a “geek.” And pathologists and medical laboratory professionals are often called less “outgoing” than their counterparts. Each of these terms are especially detrimental because they overshadow the critical role pathologists and medical laboratory scientists play in the healthcare team. What’s more, notes Diana Kremitske, MHA, MS, MT(ASCP), Vice President of the Diagnostic Medicine Institute at Geisinger in Danville, Pa., women in the modern laboratory need to demand their fair share of accolades and opportunities to contribute even more. Here, Ms. Kremitske, a member of the ASCP Board of Directors and former chair of the ASCP Council of Laboratory Professionals, shares what she’s learned on her path to leadership.  

Why is it important to have women in leadership positions in health care?
Women have unique attributes that fulfill needs that are obvious gaps in healthcare leadership positions. The female gender, by far, makes up majority of healthcare workers. Therefore, women are uniquely positioned with a deep understanding of the needs of the workforce, such as caretaking roles that most women take on at various stages of their lives. They understand the stress and strain in balancing work during child raising years, caring for elders in the family or providing general sick care of loved ones, when the need arises. 

Women in healthcare leadership positions become role models for early career-focused women aspiring to do greater things long term. The women in healthcare leadership roles that I have admired tend to think broadly and build relationships to get to know the whole person, forming a balanced perspective, taking into consideration the importance of support, endorsement, and mentoring systems to one’s professional development as well as appreciating life’s needs outside of work.

Tell us about a defining moment in your career. How did it impact the trajectory of your career, for better or worse? How did it impact your path to leadership?
The earliest experience in my career involved being paired with a consultant and accepting a role in facilitating various stakeholder groups to define the specifications for a new laboratory information system to address current and future business needs. Doors started to open for my involvement in systemwide initiatives in our department. Mid-career, an opportunity presented to participate in an organizational leadership development program over the course of a year. Pivotal moments included: obtaining invaluable feedback that helped me become more self-aware, being assigned a professional coach from outside the organization, and connecting with other emerging leaders from our health system who were my peers, sharing insights and supporting each other as we charted our individual career pathways. This experience was an essential step toward the next level of my career. Soon after, a promotion occurred. 

Through my volunteer service with ASCP, I have been able to contribute on a higher level to our profession and have gained professional and leadership development. It is also good for your organization to have employees connected to their professional societies and participating on a national level. This involvement drives me to keep abreast of relevant information in the healthcare environment, which helps me innovate and move our service line to a higher performance level. This level of participation provides the opportunity to positively influence healthcare outcomes where laboratory medicine is involved. This ultimately benefits patients and healthcare systems.

What do we need to do to bring more women into pathology and laboratory medicine?
Pathology and laboratory medicine are centered on science. There is a nationwide demand for knowledgeable, talented people in scientific careers. Promoting STEM careers, as early as elementary school, is essential for sparking early interest in laboratory medicine. Creating virtual shadowing experiences of various laboratory disciplines for high school and college students is another tool to offer a glimpse into pathology and laboratory medicine, enabling young women to learn about clinical disciplines for scientific careers.

To attract more young women into our fields, we all need to promote pathology and laboratory medicine as careers with cutting-edge technology that play an important role as the diagnostic information source for decision-making in patient care. It is an exciting field that uniquely combines medicine and science. Laboratory medicine careers are the backbone for determining health, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. What a perfect role for making a difference in health care! We have witnessed this during these unprecedented times where laboratory medicine met the diagnostic needs of humanity’s fight against coronavirus.

What advice would you give to other women in pathology and laboratory medicine who want to move into leadership positions?  
If you aspire to a leadership role, be mindful of the importance of building professional relationships with other leaders throughout your institution. Stay abreast of developments and key issues in the field and health care in general. Seek education and experiences to continually build your knowledge base on relevant topics. Education and experience are complimentary in your advancement to a higher position. You cannot have one without the other. Application of learning is required to demonstrate expertise and make your candidacy for upward movement appealing. Select more than one mentor, and invite open and honest feedback often from your mentors. Be helpful, and demonstrate leadership in solving important problems in your department or organization. Make it known to your manager that you would like to advance to a leadership position. Finally, write all of this down in a personal, professional advancement document with six-month, one-year, and one- to three-year goals, including tactics to help steer you to deliver on each. Talk to the person who is decision maker on the leadership position to which you aspire. Prepare for the conversation to allow the decision maker to get to know you better; express the value you can bring to a leadership role; and take the initiative to ask for additional experiences to prepare and position yourself for greater responsibilities.