About Us

Dr. Shantellé Lucas has technical, administrative, and managerial experience in both clinical and public health laboratories.  She was awarded her Doctor of Philosophy in Microbiology (with a specialization in Immunology ) from Howard University located in Washington, District of Columbia, and performed her dissertation work for her degree at the National Institutes of Health. She became interested in becoming a Laboratory Director through her tenure as a Pre-Doctoral IRTA fellow at the National Institutes of Health located in Bethesda, Maryland.  As a fellow, she attended various seminars on career paths for doctoral science candidates, and the presentation about clinical and public health laboratory director sparked her interest in the field. After graduating in 2011, Dr. Lucas relocated to the Bay Area of California for a position as a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the California Department of Public Health/University of California at Davis to train to be a future Clinical and/or Public Health Microbiology Laboratory Director. Dr. Lucas has obtained both national and state licensures/certifications for clinical and public health microbiology diagnostic testing, and is familiar with all national, California state, and local regulations. 

Dr. Lucas worked as a bench technologist after completing her Post-Doctoral fellowship for three years to strengthen her technical and troubleshooting skills. In 2016, Dr. Lucas worked for two years as a clinical Microbiology supervisor in a hospital laboratory. In her next position, Dr. Lucas served as the Assistant Director of the San Mateo County Public Health laboratory, and after 15 months, she was appointed as the Laboratory Director. Overall, Dr. Lucas has over five years of laboratory management experience in all areas: operations, personnel, financial, facilities, marketing, quality, and marketing management. Other areas in which Dr. Lucas has experience is: validation/verification studies, laboratory information management system/billing software system selection and validation, laboratory design, starting new laboratories, and assisting with licensure and accreditation. 

Due to the vast experience and technical knowledge of the owner, she was recruited to assist the State of California with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) response by serving as a laboratory director for state wide testing, in addition to her role as a local public health laboratory director, for both antigen testing in congregate settings as well as molecular diagnostic testing.  Serving as a laboratory director for the State of California during this pandemic response has allowed Dr. Lucas to share her knowledge and expertise in developing processes in the areas of logistics, workflows, and ensuring facilities are testing and reporting under the most current mandates. As with her other laboratory management positions, Dr. Lucas serves as clinical consultant to all clients (clinicians, nurses, and healthcare administrators). Also, inclusive in Dr Lucas's Scope of Work with the State of California includes COOP planning participation and after action summation and implementation of procedures, policies, workflows suggested in the HOTWASH report to assist with preparation of future public health responses.