Felicia Rice
Microbiologist
Mayo Clinic Hospital
Phoenix, AZ USA
“Believe in yourself and know that you can do it...So what if you’re floundering? You’ll only be floundering for a little bit of time.”
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By Roadtrip NationFelicia Rice
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
I grew up in Indiana.
My dad was an orthopedist, so I grew up around that field and realized early on that I wanted to do something similar.
I earned my undergraduate degree in biology at St. Mary’s College in Indiana and then did a one-year certification program in Chicago.
I got pregnant when I was still in school and realized that I probably wasn’t going to end up becoming a doctor and practicing with my dad as I had originally planned.
After graduating, I took a couple of years off to spend more time raising my children.
When I went back to work, I moved around through various jobs in the medical field to try and find something that would be fulfilling to me—I ended up really liking microbiology.
I didn’t want my children to experience a bumpy childhood, so I spent a lot of time working the third shift to ensure that I could be with my children during the day.
I eventually felt like I needed a change of scenery, so I moved with my children to Phoenix, Arizona, to work as a microbiologist for the Mayo Clinic Hospital—it’s been a great experience so far!
Education
High School
Career
Microbiologist
I study patient cultures to help solve patients' issues.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Science
Medicine
Problem Solving
Day to Day
As a microbiologist, I work closely with infectious disease and study things that most people don’t like to talk about (wound cultures, sputum, urine, etc.). I receive specimens from the hospital and then I spend most of my day reading those cultures to help solve patients’ problems. I also spend time working with our instruments, including troubleshooting the machines when they start to fail.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for everyone
There are a lot of different areas of lab work that you can really get into. Microbiology is where I felt the best, but I recommend trying out the different areas to see what works the best for you. You can be a generalist as a lab worker, so you'll get to touch a bunch of different fields which is great!
Hurdles
Challenges I Overcame
Single Parent
Work-Life Balance
Interviewed By
A Single Mom's Story
Single moms pursuing higher education
