Betty Dunkel (Grossnickle, Vincent), MS, MT(ASCP) Class of 1946.

I Worked as an instructor in bacteriology upon graduation, followed by periods of employment at Ingham Medical Center, St. Lawrence and Sparrow Hospital. As well as the university hospital affiliated with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria, while my husband was serving a stint with the United States Agency for International Development (AID). Following the birth of my 6th child, I was employed at MSU. First, I worked as a research assistant in the Animal Husbandry Dept and then in the Vet. Med. Surgery and Medicine Leukemia research Program, doing tissue culture. We spent one year in Nigeria, but were evacuated for the Biafran War. I once again began work at MSU in the newly formed College of Human Medicine as Acting Director of the Human Biology Laboratories. Later, I went to the Pathology Department from which I retired in l986 as an Education Specialist. Today's clinical laboratory technology has changed tremendously from that of my day. For instance, there was no automation. Blood counts, chemistries and even tissue preparation were done completely by hand. There also was a change from color-matching (colorimetric) to photometric when I was an intern. The old procedures were very challenging, but far less accurate, and we routinely used such reagents as dioxin, mercury and formalin. Totally unaware of their carcinogenic potential. The number of procedures a laboratory can perform has increased dramatically thanks to instrumentation and an increased understanding of the physical and chemical make-up of the human body.

Uncertain health will prevent me from attending the October Anniversary get-together; I will be sorry to miss it. Good luck to your endeavors.

Betty Dunkel (Grossnickle, Vincent), MS. MT (ASCP)