Brad Karon, MD, PhD.
Dr. Karon is the Medical Director of the CLS Program and is Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. He is the Associate Director of the Pathology Residency Program and is Assistant Professor of Laboratory Medicine in the College of Medicine.
Dr. Karon is Director of the Hospital Clinical Laboratories, Point of Care Testing, and Laboratory Services. Prior to joining the staff at Mayo Clinic, Dr. Karon was Assistant Medical Director of the clinical laboratory at Sunrise Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
He is a native of Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelors Degree in Chemistry, and completed his MD/PHD from the University of Minnesota Medical School. He completed his residency in Clinical Pathology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
Sue Lehman, MA, MT (ASCP) SM
Sue Lehman graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1983 with a B.S. in medical technology. In 1991, she completed her masters degree in psychology and counseling services from Saint Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota. In 2008 she completed the Professional Development Certificate Program in Distance Education through the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She worked as a medical technologist at Mayo Clinic in the Division of Clinical Microbiology for 10 years. Subsequent to this she became involved in education at the medical and allied health level and led the establishment of academic programs in clinical laboratory science in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. She has 15 years of teaching experience and is Program Director and also course director for Clinical Microbiology I and II. Her areas of interest are in distance education and education methodology.
Nicole Zahnle, BS, MT (ASCP)
Nicole Zahnle graduated from Western Illinois University with a B.S. degree in Medical Technology in 1992. She has worked in the Toxicology lab at MMCI in Peoria, IL, as a generalist with focused training in Microbiology and Blood Banking in Silvis, Illinois, and for the University of Minnesota as a Liaison for the MN Lions Eye Bank on the Mayo Clinic campus, Rochester. Ms. Zahnle started working for the Mayo Clinic, Rochester in 2006 as the Education Specialist for the Drugs of Abuse area of the Toxicology / Drug Monitoring Lab. She is the course director of Clinical Chemistry and Immunology for the CLS Program.
Kelly Nelson, MS, MT (ASCP)
Kelly Nelson graduated from the University of Iowa with a B.S. degree in Clinical Laboratory Science in 2000. Ms. Nelson completed her masters degree in Clinical Laboratory Science through the University of North Dakota in 2009. She worked as a generalist in a small reference laboratory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa before joining Mayo Clinic in 2004 as Education Specialist for the Hematopathology Morphology laboratory. Currently she teaches Hematology I and II and Hemostasis in the program.
Julie Freidhoff, MS, MT (ASCP)
Julie Freidhoff graduated with a B.S. in Health Science from Grand Valley State University in 2001 and received her Medical Technology certification in 2002 upon completing a 9.5 month clinical practicum at Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI. After working in the areas of bacteriology, virology and urinalysis, she completed her masters degree in environmental and public health at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire with research emphasis on the Toxicokinetics of MTBE. Upon completion of her graduate degree in 2005, Ms. Freidhoff joined Mayo clinic in the Central Clinical Laboratory where she became a chemistry resource technologist. Currently, Ms. Freidhoff teaches Urinalysis, Virology and facilitates Orientation/Phlebotomy, Westgard Basic QC and Method Validation courses and cocoordinates New Discoveries and Laboratory Management. She is an active member of the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science- Minnesota (ASCLS-MN) serving at both the state and regional levels as the Co-Chair of the Communications Meeting, Webmaster, Newsletter Coordinator and Co-Chair of the 2009 Clinical Laboratory Collaborative meeting. In addition, she volunteers as a case study judge for the National ASCLS Education Scientific Assembly Review Committee. She also serves on the National Communications Committee for CLMA.
Shannon Conley (Administrative Assistant)
Shannon Conley is the administrative assistant for the CLS Program. Her repertoire includes a broad range of supportive functions. She handles all aspects of the program from admissions to graduation and any support in-between. She is program liaison between the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and Mayo School of Health Sciences. She serves as the direct contact person for program inquires and provides assistance to students and faculty.
Sten Westgard, BA, MS (adjunct faculty)
Sten Westgard is the Director of Client Services and IT for Westgard QC, Inc. He has edited and contributed to numerous books on quality, including Basic QC Practices, Basic Method Validation, Six Sigma QC Design and Control, CLIA Final Rules, Assuring the Right Quality Right, and Nothing but the Truth about Quality. For more than a decade, he has managed the website www.westgard.com, creating and administering online training, as well as editing and writing hundreds of reports, essays, and applications on quality control, method validation, Six Sigma and other laboratory management topics.
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville Education Coordinator:
Carleen Van Siclen, MS-HSA, MT (ASCP), CLS (NCA), TS (ABB)
Carleen graduated from Norwich University with a B.S. degree in Medical Technology. In 1997, she completed a M.S. degree in Health Service Administration from the College of St. Francis (Joliet, IL). She has 25 years of clinical laboratory science experience and has been a Medical Laboratory Technology Program Director for 10 years where she taught across the curriculum before joining Mayo Clinic in 2002. Carleen is the Education Coordinator for the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic Florida. She currently serves as a consultant for the AAB Board of Registry for their national certification examinations.
