1.

What brought you to Mayo Clinic, and how long have you been here?

I was actually born at Mayo Clinic, so technically my mom brought me here! But I have always loved science. I went to college and earned a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology. When I finished my last semester and graduated, I moved back home to Rochester to be with my family as my dad was terminally ill. After a bit, I started looking for a lab-based job at Mayo. I didn’t know they were in a hiring freeze at the time, so after about a dozen rejection letters, I finally got an interview.

 

Jason Majorowicz

At the end of the interview, I was given my choice of placement in three different labs. Since my degree was heavily genetics-based, I decided to join what was then called the cytogenetics lab. It was over 20 years ago when I became a cytogenetics technologist here.

2.

What is your current role, and what does your day-to-day work involve?

My current role is event management coordinator for the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (DLMP). My career has been an evolution – after my technologist position, I became the lab’s first quality specialist, then I moved into the role of quality management coordinator for the division, and now I serve as the event management coordinator for the department. In my current role, I focus on non-conforming event analysis.

When things don’t go quite as planned or when they deviate from the established process – what we call an “event” – I work with various laboratory and quality professionals to pursue process improvements. It is a lot of problem-solving, networking, and understanding processes. I think of myself as an investigator or mechanic of processes.

3.

In what way does the work you do benefit providers and patients?

Through my analysis and problem-solving, I help to ensure our lab testing fulfills the promise that Mayo Clinic makes in keeping the needs of the patient first. Our entire focus is ensuring we have the support network in place to deliver the right lab result to the right patient at the right time.

4.

Is there anything about your role that people might find surprising or unexpected?

One of the best traits you can have as a quality professional is abundant, wild curiosity. I am constantly asking how things work, striving to understand processes and how multiple processes matrix together to drive a patient result. It is incredibly complex and at the end of the day, I am basically a detective.

5.

What part of your job do you find the most challenging?

Cutting-edge lab medicine and health care delivery are incredibly complex and they produce equally complex processes. So when unexpected events do occur, pinpointing the affected system or process can lead you down many paths. It involves tracking down and talking to many people, and then creating a team to address the root cause.

6.

What gives you meaning and purpose in your work?

I love knowing that behind every specimen is a person. At one point in time, they were my dad's pathology specimens and today it could be my kid’s samples, my neighbor's samples, or a sample from a patient at Mayo Clinic, or from anywhere in the country through Mayo Clinic Laboratories. But all those samples and all those specimens go through the same process. I get the privilege of coming to work and collaborating with world-class people and world-class teams to deliver the best health care.