Vice President

Stephanie Wirsbinski, HT(ASCP)^cm

I have been in the field of Histology for 17 years. I am currently in a new position as a Mohs technician in a dermatology clinic for ProHealth Inc. located in Pewaukee WI. This is a new challenge for me learning the embedding technique for Mohs, patient charting in Epic and learning the surgical instruments. Its been a lot to learn and very interesting. In my previous position I worked in a Research Histology Core at the Medical College of WI. I performed full service histology on rodents, humans and many other species.  This position also had many interesting aspects to it as we were allowed to "think and perform histology outside the box".

I learned how to do histology at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. This was my first histology job. A clinical setting, in asmall lab with 3 techs. I got some good experience with small tissue. Very small. I also attended the University of Indiana's on-line Histology Technician program to become certified, while working here.I also work as a casual at Wisconsin Diagnostic Laboratory at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. I felt I needed some experience in adult histology to round out my resume. I have been there  since 2011.

I have been the Vice-President of the WHS from 2015-2017 and the President since 2017. I really enjoy being on the board and meeting many many histotechs along the way.

Treasurer

Newsletter Editor

Stacy Geskermann, BS, HTL(ASCP)^cmQIHC

I completed my B.S. in Biological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 2009 and then began my histology training in 2010 as part of the ACL Laboratories route 2 histology program. After completion of the program, I was hired as a third shift Histology Tech at the ACL central lab on the Aurora West Allis Medical Center campus. I have subsequently earned my HTL and QIHC. My histology career was further advanced as I worked as Third Shift Technical Specialist at ACL from 2014 to 2018. In January 2019 I threw caution to the wind and began my long dreamed of career as a travel histotech, combining my love of the lab and my love of travel. Unfortunately, the corona virus pandemic put an unexpected end to my travel career. I am fortunate to have found a great histotech position with AbbVie in September 2020.

When I’m not in the lab you can find me quilting, knitting, kayaking, binge watching Netflix, and exploring Wisconsin. Did I mention that I LOVE to travel? During a short term study abroad trip to Panama in 2008 I was bitten by the travel bug and have since been fortunate enough to have visited 11 countries. (If you have any questions about European travel I’d love to point you in the right direction!)

I have been on the WHS board as Newsletter Editor since December 2017. I had never thought of participating on the board until the president of the society approached me about being newsletter editor. I am so glad that she did! As a member of the board I have had the opportunity to serve as A/V support at Tri-State, create and manage the WHS social media accounts, design the WHS superhero and I  Heart Histo t-shirts, and run the WHS t-shirt campaigns. I also have been the interim Webmaster since mid 2018. Learning how to create and manage a website has been a rewarding challenge. Being a board member has been much more rewarding than I ever imagined. I have made new friends and have learned new skills outside of the laboratory. I was honored to be chosen the WHS Member of the Year in 2019 due, in part, to my work as a board member.

As a board we have many new ideas regarding the newsletter, website, and social media. Look for changes to come. As always, the newsletter and social media campaign depend on your participation and input. Please feel free to share any ideas you have. If you are interested in authoring an article I would love to add it to the newsletter. (You could win Article of the Year!)

Email me anytime with ideas, articles, photos, or questions at infocuswhs@gmail.com. 

Interim Webmaster

Region IV Director

Dawn Schneider, HT(ASCP)

I have been in the field of Histology for over 30 years and involved in the Wisconsin Histology Society and NSH for over 20 years.  I first became interested in Histology early in high school. My uncle was a Pathologist at our local hospital and my mom was the lab secretary so I had opportunity to visit the lab and visit with both of them in their work environment.  When I was a junior and had Physiology and Anatomy class we had a project that included shadowing any type of medical field for a day. I picked the lab at the hospital were my mom worked of course. Well my uncle was slicing up a brain that day and I was fascinated and the histotech showed me the ropes and I was convinced that is what I wanted to do.  

I live in northern Wisconsin and have been employed at Howard Young Medical Center (now part of Ascension) for 27 years.  We are a small clinical pathology lab and we do every aspect of histology from accessioning, cutting, staining, special stains, send outs, etc…  I like being involved with the patient’s sample from receipt to final report. I am also the Lab IT Analyst and have been involved in several big computer projects for the whole lab.  I have great enthusiasm for the terrific field of Histotechnology and would like to see it prosper by helping NSH increase membership and education.

I have held every office in the Wisconsin Histology Society throughout my membership and was involved in several committees when we hosted the 2000 NSH Symposium in Milwaukee. At the NSH Symposiums I have been honored to sit in the House of Delegates over 10 times and enjoy being a part of how the members are part of the governance decisions of NSH.  I have participated in the President’s Council, First Timer’s Reception to welcome first time attendees, Ambassador for workshops, note taker for the Region IV meeting, General membership meeting and sat in the gallery at Post Board meetings to gain knowledge of the workings of NSH.

I am now the current Region IV Director for NSH (in addition to WHS Secretary) and am excited to take on this new role and to share with our state constituents the happenings at the national level and take back comments/ concerns to the NSH board of directors.  One of my goals is to attend as many as possible state meetings in region IV to meet fellow histotechs and have face to face communication with them. I look forward to serving our states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Wisconsin.

I can always be contacted if you need something.  My email is dawn.schneider@ascension.org.  Work phone is 715-356-8174 and my cell phone is 715-617-9086.