Careers Blog Home > A Day in the Life: Commercial Accessioning Technician

A Day in the Life: Commercial Accessioning Technician

Robin, RTP Accessioning Lead

AdayInTheLife_AccessioningTech_CorpComms_Twitter.png

 

Prior to working at Foundation Medicine, I worked as a pharmacy technician in both the retail and hospital setting. I enjoyed the work; however, I eventually decided to explore other career paths. I came across the Accessioning Technician position at Foundation Medicine and was immediately intrigued. I didn’t know much about genomics, but I was fascinated by the idea of personalized cancer care. I admired the mission to help patients through comprehensive genomic profiling, and I’m glad I was able to join the Accessioning team. 
 
I started as an Accessioning Technician back in 2019 and have been fortunate enough to learn and grow into my current position as the Accessioning Team Lead. One thing I love about the Accessioning department is how much we get to interact and collaborate with other departments across Foundation Medicine. Every day we work with Histology, Molecular, Specimen Return, Lab Operations Assistants, and Client Services, among others. We all rely on each other to ensure that our daily objectives are met to achieve our mission of transforming cancer care. I get to work with some amazing people. I’m always in awe of how creative everyone is and the innovative ideas they develop to improve and streamline our processes. 

The Accessioning team is the first point of contact for the patient samples that are received at Foundation Medicine. A typical day starts with the receipt and checking packages in our lab space, followed by the debulking process, which involves opening the packages, documenting quantity and sample type, and ensuring all necessary paperwork has been received. We then sort these samples based on both test selection and sample type to appropriately prioritize and proceed with entering all the information into our processing application. Once this is done, the samples are given a unique identification number to track their progress throughout the testing process.  Attention to detail is extremely important to ensure that quality reports are delivered to oncologists, so that they can make informed decisions for their patients’ treatment. Our work is less technical in nature than further down in the testing process; however, it is essential to the delivery of high-quality results. 

 

Robin_Team_Photo.jpg
 
Since starting at Foundation Medicine, I have experienced a great deal of support from the leadership team at our RTP site. My supervisors and manager have always been encouraging and often ask what they can do to help me achieve my career goals. When the opportunity came about to become a team lead, I was hesitant because I knew it was a role that would put me outside of my comfort zone. My leaders reassured me that it was something I was capable of taking on and that it would be an excellent growth opportunity for me. I’m glad I listened to their advice, because I’ve grown and learned so much from this role. I haven’t finalized my long-term goals yet, but I know that this company will help me get there. 

 


 

Jobs you might be interested in:

Sr. Mgr, BioPharma Analytics Lead

Biopharma Business Operations and Customer Experience 102419 United States United States Biopharma
About the Job The Analytics Lead is a key member of the BioPharma Business Operations & Customer Experience team. This role is responsible for leading the development and execution of analyses to deliver timely and actionable insights that drive...

Dir, Commercial Programs

Field Business Enablement 102418 United States United States Commercial
About the Job The Director, Commercial Programs owns achievement of strategic objectives and key results across the entire range of FMI products, services adoption, and their relationship to customer retention and sales growth. The role works cl...

Product Manager

Engineering 102417 Boston Massachusetts United States Seaport Blvd., Boston, Massachusetts, United States Technology
About the Job The Insights Generation (IG) group sits at a critical juncture between our labs and our end users. IG is responsible for generating the reports and data that are ultimately delivered to our partners and physicians. The Product Mana...

Account Executive II - Sacramento, CA

Sales 102415 San Francisco California United States San Francisco, California, United States Commercial
About the Job The Account Executive II (AE II) is a field-based role with direct customer engagement on the Sales team within FMI’s Commercial operation. The position is responsible for driving sales volume for FMI’s suite of specialty products ...

Director, Head of Alliance Management

Biopharma 102413 United States United States Biopharma
About the Job The Director, Head of Alliance Management leads FMI’s Biopharma Alliance Management group responsible for ensuring that enterprise BioPharma partnerships are proactively and effectively managed to optimize partnership milestones an...

 

Sign up for Custom New Job Alerts

Not You?

Thank you