Pam Coker Combines Clinical Background with Biology and Plant Science

CONTACT: LISA GARRETT, EXT. 2315

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 7/28/2000
(By Lisa Garrett)

CLEMSON --- Pam Coker is a rarity in her field. Each and every day she combines her medical laboratory technology background with biology and plant science in her research at Clemson University's Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology. Throughout her professional career, Coker has relied on her clinical background whether it has been evaluating tests in a hospital chemistry or microbiology laboratory, observing and researching the healing and destructive power of plants in a university environment, writing and presenting journal articles to the scientific community, or working as a member of a medical mission team in Haiti.

The 1979 alumna of Tri-County Technical College's Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) department depends on her medical knowledge just as often as she does the sciences in her daily research and in a class she helps teach at Clemson called Plants: Magic, Murder, and Medicine.

She entered Tri-County right out of high school and worked in her field of study while attending college. After graduating, she worked as a lab technician at Oconee Memorial Hospital, honing her research and laboratory skills. Nine years later she left the hospital to pursue a dream of working in research. She began in Clemson University's Forestry Department, and in 1995 she moved to the Department of Plant Pathology and Physiology where she and others created the Plant Medicine and Toxicology Initiative.

"I already knew my way around a lab, and I took the techniques I had learned in the hospital and applied them to plants. I merely modified my clinical lab methods to be used in another environment," said the Seneca resident.

Along the way, to supplement her American Society of Clinical Pathology credentials, she returned to college to pursue a bachelor's degree. She spent evenings and weekends working towards her B.A. in biology at Southern Wesleyan University.

She earned an M.S. in plant pathology from Clemson last year and is working on her Ph.D. in plant physiology.

She says she always planned to use her clinical background in her work. "Quality control is equally as important to a technician as it is in research," she added.

As a research specialist, a typical day may start with studying herbal products purported to be immune stimulants. She also searches for grants and edits journal articles. She supervises and advises undergraduate and graduate students, and often sits in on a course where she is a clinical advisor. She manages the plant physiology laboratory, as well as the use of lab equipment and initiates research on her own.

She's always working on projects and presentations. Most recently she has been looking for new drugs from plants to be made into pharmaceuticals. She's conducting white blood cell studies in anti-tumor cancer research, and this month she travels to Hawaii to present a paper on FDA-approved drug responses in tumor tests.

She hopes to add book publishing to her resume this year. She and her colleagues have co-authored a book designed as a resource for hospital emergency rooms. Titled "Poisonous Plants of SC: Identifications, Symptoms and Treatments," the manual, now available on CD-ROM, lists American Medical Association-recommended treatments. She co-authored it with Dr. David Wedge and Dr. Dwight Camper.

Coker has ventured back to her alma mater in recent years to teach biology for Tri-County's Arts and Sciences Division.

"I love teaching," said Coker. "It was so much fun getting the students engaged and interested. When they enter the class, they think they aren't interested in biology, but I show them real world applications and talk about my experiences."

"Pam did a wonderful job of teaching Biology 100 for our science department," said Frank Breazeale, who leads Tri-County's science department and

who taught Pam when she was a student. "It's the first science course our freshmen take, and since Pam had been in their seat years earlier, she related well to them and vice versa."

"I'm not at all surprised at Pam's success," added Breazeale.

In addition, she was asked by Dallas Jones, MLT department head at Tri-County, to talk about her experiences after her return from a six-day medical mission in Haiti.

Last year Coker went with the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on a medical mission. "The group needed an MLT to go with them. After 12 years out of the hospital, for six days I became a lab technician again and enjoyed every minute of it," said Coker.

Beginning her education with an MLT degree was a plus, she said. "I was a better student because I worked in the field. Going to Tri-County gave me a chance to see if this was the career I wanted. I approached the next educational years with a new attitude," said Coker.

"That's why I love my job so much. For the first time, I get to use my MLT background every day. This is most satisfying job I've ever had because I get to combine the two."

"If I hadn't been an MLT, I wouldn't be where I am today," she said.
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