It was a night to celebrate Youngstown State University graduates earning their white coats for a very specific and vital skill set within the medical field. 

YSU graduates just a handful of medical laboratory students each year. Friday's ceremony at YSU's Kilcawley Center was all about celebrating their intelligence in a field that many overlook. 

"This is the best field for them to make a huge difference in healthcare," said Medical Laboratory Sciences Program Director Dr. Farhana Mueez.

Whether it's researching diseases or examining patient samples, a career as a medical laboratory scientist isn't for the 'average Joe.'

"Our students learn everything about the human system and those lab tests," Dr. Mueez explained. "When they look at the lab results, they know exactly what those results represent and what system is imbalanced if they get any abnormal results. This is a hidden profession because most people don't know what laboratory science people do."

The role is critical because laboratory data plays a critical role in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. Graduates in the MLS program include Chloe Berarducci, Joseph Castro, Alaina Constance, Evelyn Davis, Arianna Hoffman, and Alexis LaRue. Graduates in the MLT program include Kiara Jones, Kaiden Palmiter, Johnna Smith, and Zoey Spellman. 

"We have amazing professors who have truly taught us everything," said MLT graduate Johnna Smith.

Program professors say society depends on this role more than people think.

"A lot of people want to be health professionals but not deal with the gross stuff," said MLT graduate Zoey Spellman. "I feel like pharmacy and this are very similar in that way, where you're helpful in the background."

But uncertainty lingers in the medical field, with the National Institute of Health on the chopping block. The organization is the world's leading public funder of biomedical research.

"Everything a doctor needs to know to help somebody else is the tests that we run and do," explained Smith. "And we look at and we turn out the results that the doctors are going to use to treat somebody."

Medical laboratory services are in-demand jobs. Several of the students graduating this semester told me they have already found jobs post-grad.

"This is a truly a professional degree," Dr. Mueez said. "Most of our students get hired because there is truly a shortage of medical lab professionals."

A handful of graduates were recently hired by St. Elizabeth Hospital in Boardman as generalists. Their tasks include working with the urinalysis, hematology, and coagulation departments. "You can throw us in a lab and we will know how to handle that type of lab," Spellman added. 

Visit this link to learn more about the programs offered at Youngstown State University.