Biographical Feature: Paul C. Schreckenberger, Ph.D.

摘要

Paul Charles Schreckenberger was born on 4 October 1947, the second eldest of six children, in Buffalo, NY, where he received his early education. In high school, he was prom king, and in 2009 he was inducted into the Cardinal O'Hara High School Hall of Fame. He attended the Medical Technology Program at Erie Community College, where he received an A.A.S. in medical technology in 1968. It was also at Erie where Paul met Ann Dye, his future wife of 46 years, and the two shared careers as medical laboratory scientists. In 1970, he received a B.S. in medical technology from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and in 1974, he received an M.S. in medical technology from the University of Minnesota after completing a thesis on rapid methods for biochemical testing of anaerobic bacteria under the guidance of Professor Donna J. Blazevic, M.P.H., his thesis advisor. While pursuing his early education, Paul worked part-time as a certified medical laboratory technician and then as a medical technologist. Also during this time, he served 7 years in the U.S. Army National Guard. Paul rose through the ranks of the Department of Laboratories at the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC), initially as the supervisor of the bacteriology laboratory and eventually as supervisor of the clinical microbiology and immunology laboratories of the same institution. Even in the early years of his career, Paul was an inspirational speaker and educator, who promoted high-quality laboratory standards while making the work challenging and fun. As a supervisor, he began the tradition of making daily laboratory rounds where questions related to laboratory procedures and problems of making definitive microorganism identifications could be given. Violeta Rekasius, B.S., MT(ASCP), currently a technical specialist at Loyola University Medical Center, recalls, “I went to a micro meeting, somewhere in the city, and I cannot even remember the material that was presented, but one thing was for certain, I was mesmerized by the speaker. His name, of course, was Mr. Paul Schreckenberger, supervisor of University of Illinois Hospital microbiology lab. His lecture had the ‘wow’ factor, and I was all in! I knew that I had to leave my comfort zone and work for the great Mr. Paul. So, in 1981, I took a large cut in pay, lost my seniority, and took public transportation to be employed at UIC. That was a turning point in my micro career, and I never looked back. All of this was due to the magic micro dust that Paul sprinkled across my path during his lecture. I learned so much from him and am eternally grateful. Every day was a great learning experience, a challenge, and we had fun, lots of fun!” Later, when Paul joined the laboratory at Loyola as its microbiology director, Violet and Paul would have the opportunity to work together again, and their partnership, in total, spanned 2 decades.