The Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) annually presents the Director’s Excellence Award to individuals who embody the agency’s mission. Each year, TVMDL employees nominate peers they believe exemplify excellence through testing services, quality assurance, technological advances, and overall dedication to TVMDL.
TVMDL is pleased to announce Megan Schroeder, PhD, as a 2020 recipient of the Director’s Excellence Award in the professional category.
Dr. Schroeder began her career at TVMDL in 2009 as a research associate. Since then, she has exceled within the agency and now currently serves as the assistant section head for the molecular diagnostics section at the College Station laboratory.
In addition to daily oversight responsibilities, Dr. Schroeder regularly provides hands-on training to technicians and works on new assay development. During her tenure with the agency, Dr. Schroeder has been instrumental in developing numerous new test offerings, including multiple multiplex assays.
Her knowledge and passion for test development reaches beyond the borders of TVMDL as Dr. Schroeder is also nationally recognized for her efforts. In the past, Dr. Schroeder has worked with multiple commercial companies to produce or improve different tests and is currently working with a company to produce a commercially available test kit to detect Trichomoniasis by real-time PCR. The commercialization of this kit would create a national standardization of testing methods and create consistency across several veterinary diagnostic laboratories.
Most recently, Dr. Schroeder is commended for her assistance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was instrumental in implementing both human and animal testing to detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, at TVMDL. Each of these assays required working with different national, state, and local entities.
To perform human testing for COVID-19, TVMDL had to establish partnerships with human healthcare providers. These partnerships allowed human health laboratory staff to use TVMDL equipment and laboratory space to perform testing. Dr. Schroeder single-handedly trained this staff to use the agency’s high-throughput testing equipment and provided daily oversight to ensure testing was performed accurately and efficiently.
“Dr. Schroeder is dedicated to TVMDL’s mission, is passionate about the clients we serve and the work we do,” Molecular Diagnostics Section Head Pam Ferro, MS, PhD, said. “She is a highly valued member of the team and a leader within the organization.”
Please join TVMDL in congratulating this year’s Director’s Excellence Award recipients.