Clinical Laboratory Science
Your gateway into clinical laboratory science
This track is your gateway into Clinical Laboratory Science, a behind-the-scenes healthcare discipline that plays a critical role in diagnosis, disease investigation, and patient care. Clinical laboratory scientists are the experts who analyze blood, body fluids, and tissues to help physicians identify disease, guide treatment decisions, and monitor patient outcomes.
In this hands-on track, you’ll step into the role of a clinical laboratory scientist as you perform laboratory analyses, work through patient case studies, and explore how laboratory data connects to disease pathology and clinical decision-making. You’ll tour a clinical laboratory to see where this work happens every day and learn how cutting-edge testing in microbiology, hematology, chemistry, transfusion medicine and molecular diagnostics supports modern medicine.
Along the way, you’ll discover diverse career pathways in hospitals, public health, research, biotechnology, and industry, and get an inside look at what it’s like to study Clinical Laboratory Science at UNC. By the end of the track, you’ll understand how laboratory science saves lives and whether this dynamic, impactful major could be your future.
Instructor: Tara C. Moon, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CM
Dr. Tara Moon is a professor and the Director of the Division of Clinical Laboratory Science in the School of Medicine and a proud graduate of the Clinical Laboratory Science program at Carolina. She has taught and mentored students at UNC since 2002 and is passionate about helping students understand how diseases are detected, monitored, and treated through laboratory testing, often before symptoms are fully visible.
Her teaching and research interests focus on immunohematology and transfusion medicine, including ABO blood groups, lifespan studies, and massive transfusion protocols, as well as diagnostic testing for diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Dr. Moon is especially interested in how laboratory data helps explain disease processes and guides critical medical decisions in real time.
Through Explore@UNC, Dr. Moon looks forward to introducing students to the investigative side of healthcare where science, disease pathology, and problem‑solving come together in the clinical laboratory. She enjoys showing students how a curiosity about biology and medicine can grow into a meaningful career with real‑world impact.
