A laboratory technician's journey in global health and clinical science

As part of LabWeek, our Lab4Life feature hosts a special series highlighting the inspiring journeys of scientists dedicated to clinical science and global health. In this guest blog, Vilma da Costa Manuel, a laboratory technician at the Mário Pinto de Andrade General Hospital in Cuanza Norte, shares her early career experiences, the challenges she has faced, and her hopes for making a lasting impact in science.

My name is Vilma da Costa Manuel, and I am a recently graduated laboratory technician from Angola. At the end of my degree, I joined a research team at my university, which allowed me to work as a trainee biomedical scientist at the National Institute for Health Research, a reference laboratory in Angola that serves as the regulatory and supervisory body for the activities of both public and private laboratories in my country.

During this year collaborating on this research, I realized how valuable our work as laboratory technicians is to the field of medical research, as it is through the sample analyses we routinely carry out in the laboratory that data is extracted for clinical and epidemiological research on various diseases that affect populations.

Currently, I work as a laboratory technician at the Mário Pinto de Andrade General Hospital in Cuanza Norte, which is a university hospital.

This new reality of mine has been a different experience, as this is a recently inaugurated hospital with predominantly young staff, most of whom have only a few years of service experience. We are learning to work as a team so that we can offer better service to our patients every day. Luckily, we benefit from the excellent leadership of our section coordinator, Dr. Prazeres Lourenço, who has years of experience in the field and as a team leader.

Fortunately, our laboratory is equipped with technologies that allow us to perform a wide range of tests, such as the Abbott ARCHITECT ci4100 chemical analyzer and immunoassay system, which uses chemiluminescence technology for immunoassays and photometry for biochemical analyses.

Another device we have available is the ADALYA 40 automatic electrophoresis system for cellulose acetate electrophoresis tests for hemoglobins and serum proteins, in addition to other hematological analyzers for complete blood count, ESR, glycated hemoglobin, and a urine analyzer.

While working here, my dream is to be able to join a research team in this province that conducts clinical studies on the population of Cuanza Norte, with samples processed locally in our laboratory, in order to contribute to scientific research in Angola.

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