Neumann University has named a laboratory classroom in honor of Dr. Sandra Weiss. Dr. Weiss is retiring after 45 years teaching clinical laboratory science at the school.

Weiss, of Chadds Ford, has spent countless hours on the third floor of the Bachmann Building in the laboratory that now bears her name.

Successful program

She came to Neumann in 1976 to teach medical technology. She later became director of the university’s Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) Department in 1985.

The Biology/CLS program became one of Neumann’s most successful in terms of career preparation under Weiss’s leadership,

More than half of her students have had job offers in hand before they graduate.

They are hired by A.I. Dupont Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Christiana Medical Laboratories, Einstein Medical Center, and the University of Pennsylvania Medical Laboratories, among others.

Many students pursue advanced degrees.

What she teaches

Clinical laboratory scientists are experts who perform highly complex testing, such as tests for COVID-19. They assist physicians in patient diagnosis and treatment, according to Weis.

They use sophisticated biomedical instrumentation and technology to perform laboratory testing on blood and body fluids.  

Weiss describes her retirement as bittersweet and remembers her students fondly.

“Most of the students who go into our program are the cream of the crop,” she explained. “The program is extremely rigorous, and they have to have a lot of self-discipline and motivation to keep up and see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

During her decades at Neumann, she has taught biology, immunology, human anatomy and physiology, medical science, and hematology.

She has authored publications and presentations that deal with academic performance, learning style, and student satisfaction; curriculum development for information literacy standards; and assessment of cognitive ability. 

Weiss has won the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, Neumann’s Faculty Award for Growth in Scholarship.

She’s also won an Outstanding Research Award from the Pennsylvania Research Association, faculty development grants, and math and science grants from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Consortium for Higher Education.

As aprofessor emeritus, she has an EdD from Widener University, an MA from West Chester University, and a BS from Drexel University.

Find out more about Neumann University by clicking here.

Here’s a short promotional video on Neumann’s clinical laboratory science program.