The Future of Healthcare: “Initially it is all about assembling all of the voices or demands for healthcare changes before we set upon our path” with Sam Terese, CEO of Alverno Laboratories

In order to affect change, we really need to get to a common goal or objective. At times we refer to developing a shared vision of the future state. In essence, it is not possible to start a journey without a sense where we are going. At least it must be directionally correct and hopefully we can fine tune it along the way. So initially it is all about assembling all of the voices or demands for healthcare changes before we set upon our path.

As a part of my interview series with leaders in healthcare, I had the pleasure to interview Mr. Sam Terese, MBA, MT (ASCP). Sam holds the position of Chief Executive Officer of Alverno Laboratories. He has more than 40 years of experience in the laboratory environment. His laboratory leadership experience encompasses community hospitals, academic medical laboratory and research-based organizations with the last seven years as the Chief Executive Officer at Alverno. Mr. Terese holds an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Bachelor’s degrees in Medical Technology from Rosalind Franklin University Chicago and Biology from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Thank you so much for doing this with us Sam! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

This is quite an interesting question because where I started is in a much different direction than where I ended up. My original passion going back to high school and college was science, especially biology. Most of my early career decisions revolved around the pursuit of enriching that scientific experience. So, after a few years I found myself running a very small lab — I think maybe a staff of 3 or 4. At some point in those early days, a colleague asked if I ever thought of focusing more on the business aspect and he told me “you…