The best books to learn how the clinical lab really works and why this is important to you and your family

This book describes the early career of Judy Melinek, M.D., who was a forensic pathology fellow in New York City just months before the 9/11 attack.

I liked this book because it is a first-hand account of the forensic investigations that she and her team conducted regarding the deaths that occurred that fateful day.

Dr. Melinek describes the many other investigations she conducted during her time there. While most forensic pathologists have boring personalities, Dr. Melinek knows she works in a ghoulish profession and, therefore, writes with wit and is real. "Nobody shakes hands in the autopsy suite."

Mr. Carreyrou was the Wall Street Journal reporter who broke the story that eventually led to the downfall of Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos. At its peak, this company was worth over $9 billion. Today, Holmes and her former COO have been convicted of fraud and are serving time.

I like this book because it serves as a curriculum for how NOT to operate a biotech company. It shows that while belief in your vision is essential for all successful entrepreneurs, there is no place for secrecy and arrogance in the business world.

Unfortunately, the “Theranos” effect has led to a decline in investment in new medical technology and has had a negative effect on the value of clinical laboratories.

I read this book a few years before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is about how the US Government established a research lab on Plum Island, near the eastern end of Long Island, New York.

It describes the mistakes made regarding scientific and medical studies conducted on some of the important infectious diseases of the day, Lyme and West Nile. There were safety violations that could have led to an outbreak.

When I originally read it, I thought that there was no real global impact on these miscues and thought much of this was fear porn. We know today the effects of a global pandemic, and thinking back on it, I realize just how closely we came to a disaster. 

Dr. Maisel is a media giant. First and foremost, he is a cardiologist and scientist. His work on cardiac biomarkers for heart failure laid the groundwork for clinical lab testing that is conducted in every hospital in the world today. Besides his hundreds of medical and scientific publications, he is a local stand-up comic, a social media influencer, and an author of medical thrillers.

I like this book because it shows the bad side of the dark side of medicine, i.e., where profit and ego are prioritized over ethics. Maisel interweaves numerous accurate references to the importance of lab tests into his story.

Other medical books trivialize how the lab works. Doctors really don’t just go there, randomly look at a microscope slide, and have a diagnostic “aha” moment. 

Dr. Magnani has created a character, Dr. Lily Robinson, a stylish pathologist who has an encyclopedic knowledge of poisons. She uses her strong, investigational mind to solve some of the most difficult problems in medicine that anyone could face.

Dr. Robinson is not the media-portrayed stereotypical balding pathologist with thick glasses who walks around with a dirty lab coat and cannot carry out a conversation with live humans. Instead, she is confident and highly attractive, has long dark hair and captivating green eyes, and wears designer clothing.

The majority of clinical laboratory technologists are women. To move more into the limelight, the field needs strong role models for future generations, and Magnani has created one.