Lab Professionals Week: Celebrating the Experts Behind Every Safe Transfusion

By Dan Dowling – regional communications manager

“It’s so interesting to figure out what’s going on with that patient and what kind of blood they might need.”

Beth Champney

Beth Champney, supervisor of the American Red Cross Immunohematology Reference Lab (IRL) in Burlington, Vermont, has spent decades in immunohematology. She still lights up when she talks about the complexity of the work.

There are 44 IRL labs staffed by the Red Cross across the country. The Burlington lab is the only one in Northern New England and supports 42 hospitals in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Every day, hospital patients across Vermont and New Hampshire rely on blood that is not only compatible but precisely matches their unique medical needs. Behind the scenes, a team at the Burlington IRL makes that possible.

“I think what I like best about it is the investigation – the things that are somewhat complicated,” Champney says.

Her team specializes in advanced antibody and antigen testing, going beyond the common ABO blood types. When a patient lacks a particular antigen, they can develop antibodies that make transfusions risky. The IRL’s job is to identify those antibodies and ensure the blood they receive is safe.

“Most people know the ABO RH parts of their blood type, and there’s a little over 350 actual antigens that are recognized today,” Champney explains.

At the American Red Cross, more than 2,200 laboratory and manufacturing team members work at 116 labs and manufacturing facilities across the country, helping to process, test and distribute approximately 6.3 million blood products each year.

Ray Bissonnette

For Vermont’s Lead Medical Technologist Ray Bissonnette, the IRL is a place where curiosity and persistence pay off. Part of his role is tracking rare donor blood, often from donors with specific ethnic backgrounds, to help patients with antibodies that are almost never seen.

“One of our main goals is really to find rare donor blood,” Bissonette says. “Sometimes you run into antibodies that you only see in one out of 20,000 people.”

Hospitals may never encounter these antibodies in their own labs, but Vermont's Red Cross IRL has the tools, the rare antisera used as biological detectors, and the experience to identify them. That challenge is what Bissonette loves most.

“I like getting a patient where a hospital is unable to figure out what antibody is present, and trying to go down that rabbit hole,” Bissonette says. “There’s not a lot of jobs where you can really try to solve a mystery from day to day.”

Eric Gunther

IRL technologist Eric Gunther focuses on the donor side, testing blood for antigen profiles, so hospitals have compatible units ready when patients need them. Every day, the lab receives retention tubes from all regional donations, giving Gunther and his colleagues a steady stream of samples to analyze.

“Patients often need additional considerations above and beyond just the ABO positive or negative,” Gunther explains. “So that’s what we test for.”

Gunther loves the critical thinking the job demands and after 11 years with the Red Cross, he still finds motivation in the mission. “Patient workups are like a little puzzle you must try and solve when you don’t know what’s in the sample. It’s nice to know that the work you do matters,” he says.

While the IRL identifies the right blood, someone must get it where it needs to go. For more than 43 years, that responsibility has been part of Tom Nattress’s daily work. As the supervisor overseeing blood supply distribution for Vermont and New Hampshire, Nattress manages the flow of blood products from collection to hospital delivery.

Tom Nattress

“We’re the last stop before it leaves our doors,” he says. “We are responsible for everything going out, boxed and addressed properly.”

Nattress has seen nearly every part of the Red Cross biomedical distribution operation over his long career, but the mission still drives him. “We’re helping people in real need at the hospitals,” he says. “It takes a village to have everything work properly.”

Across roles and responsibilities, the people in the Burlington IRL love what they do because they know it saves lives.

“Someone is transfused in a hospital every two seconds,” reflects Champney. “It’s good, fulfilling work.”

April 19-25, 2026, marks the 51st annual Medical Laboratory Professionals Week. This special week, started in 1975, is an annual celebration of medical laboratory professionals and pathologists who play a vital role in every aspect of health care.

Guided by compassion and curiosity, the Burlington IRL team is committed to solving medical puzzles, identifying rare antibodies, and ensuring that the right blood reaches the right patient at the right moment.

Please join us in celebrating our Red Cross laboratory and manufacturing professionals who work 24/7 to ensure patients have access to lifesaving blood products whenever and wherever they are needed.