Joy Graff, MSOL, MT(ASCP), is Supervisor of Microbiology and Molecular Laboratories at St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Preferred Laboratory Partners in Edgewood, Ky. She and her team of ~50 clinical microbiologists support the communities of northern Ky., southwest Ohio and southeast Ind. with timely, high quality test results. To assist her team in remaining strong through constant changes, Graff has devoted much of her career to mentoring all to be vigilant in their continuing education, to encourage networking outside the lab and across disciplines and to finding new ways to apply existing computerized tools to help even with the smallest of tasks each day.  

Since 1990, Graff has been an active volunteer on the board of South Central Association for Clinical Microbiology (SCACM). Graff’s main contribution to SCACM is the design and maintenance of SCACM’s online membership and conference registration portal. This portal supports virtual continuing-education and networking of microbiologists and vendor supporters across 7 midwest states.  

Throughout her Medical Technologist career, many of her coworkers and fellow SCACM board members have supported Graff’s education, networking, career-growth and innovation-passions. This support has led to her recent achievements: receipt of St Elizabeth’s 2020 Service Excellence Award in Community Outreach/Education, SCACM’s 2020 Significant Contributor to Microbiology and ASM’s 2022 Scherago-Rubin Award for Clinical Microbiology. Graff takes pride in working behind the scenes in her clinical laboratory and with SCACM, but willingly "takes the stage" to encourage others to join and support her clinical microbiology community both now and in the future.