Advocate Staff Report | September 19, 2018

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University and the Baton Rouge Clinic have collaborated to create a new scholarship opportunity for students working to become medical laboratory scientists.

The scholarship, named Baton Rouge Clinic Scholars in Medical Lab Sciences, is designed to support outstanding medical lab sciences students at the university who are entering the clinical training portion of their education, a news release said. This scholarship will benefit students by helping to make their training more affordable and serves as an investment in the future of high-need medical professionals.

Baton Rouge Clinic is the first organization to commit to the Healthcare Partner Campaign, an initiative created by the university to address the shared needs of its students and the health care facilities that employ them, the release said.

“FranU is grateful for the generosity of the Baton Rouge Clinic and the special legacy this scholarship will create,” said Tina Holland, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University president. “The university remains committed to assisting the Baton Rouge Clinic, as well as our other health care partners, in meeting their workforce needs by providing highly skilled graduates in high-demand fields like medical lab sciences.”

Medical lab scientists, also known as medical lab technologists and technicians, or clinical lab scientists, play a critical role in today’s health care industry and represent the third-largest group of health care professionals, after physicians and nurses. Approximately 70 percent of all medical decisions, diagnoses, treatments and evaluations are based on lab test results conducted by medical lab sciences professionals.