The Histotechnology program prepares samples from surgeries, biopsies and autopsies to aid in determining disease diagnoses and cause of death. Slides shown here were prepared by the Axlab AS-410 instrument. (photo by Erin O. Smith)
The Vanderbilt Medical Laboratories (VML) Histotechnology program has been assigned serious applicant status to become the nation’s 12th accredited program of its kind by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS). The program expects to become fully accredited this fall.
Other accredited programs include several academic medical centers, four-year colleges and universities, and specialized laboratories. Tennessee’s only other accredited program is at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.
The Histotechnology program officially began in March 2025 and has quickly advanced to the stage of preparing for full accreditation. The accreditation will allow students participating in the Histotechnology program to qualify for national certification as histotechnologists when they complete the program, as opposed to working in the field before qualifying for certification.
Among numerous service lines at VML, Vanderbilt Health’s campus in the MetroCenter area, the Histotechnology program prepares samples from surgeries, biopsies and autopsies. The laboratory completed a site visit from the NAACLS in April to ensure accreditation.
Holly Covas, MPH, EdD, MLS, Program Director of Medical Laboratory Science at VML, said that having an accredited program allows certified histotechnologists to work within a greater scope of practice.
“This accreditation will allow us to better serve our patients and the surrounding community by introducing more people to the field of histotechnology and ensuring a standard of education during the teaching and training processes,” said Covas. “Our graduates will be able to work in any hospital or clinic histology department to provide crucial answers to questions in medicine such as the cause of death for loved ones, the diagnosis of cancers, and the causes of disease.”
Histotechnologists at Vanderbilt Health also now have access to a new instrument for automated sectioning, known as an AS-410, distributed by Axlab, a Denmark-based medical equipment company. Covas said the Food and Drug Administration-registered device helps decrease the time to make slides of tissues from patient samples collected during surgeries, biopsies and autopsies. The instrument can process 96 patient samples in less than four hours, compared to the manual process in which one person can process approximately 26 patient samples within an entire eight-hour shift.
“VML has a track record of sponsoring excellent programs for student scientists, including the Medical Laboratory Science program, which has a history of 100% graduation, certification and job placement rates, with many of the graduates working at VML after graduation,” said Covas. “Our goal is to operate the Histotechnology program with the same outcomes.”
