Today is International Day of Biomedical Scientists. At the Akureyri Hospital, the work of biomedical scientists is diverse. They work in research, in pathology and in the physiology department.

The laboratories are staffed by:

• 26 biomedical scientists

• 2 biotechnologists

• 3 nursing assistants

• 3 secretaries/office

• 1 assistant

• 3 doctors

There are three laboratories:

• Pathology

• Biophysics

• Laboratory

The laboratories conduct more than 2,500 different examinations, with a total number of 350,000 examinations per year.

Biomedical science is a 4-year university study and includes

• pathology

• chemistry

• physics

• and instrumentation

These are a large part of the daily work.

The only branch from the Blood Bank of LSH that conducts specialized research is in the laboratory at SAk.

Every year about 12,000 people undergo blood tests apart from inpatients.

“We biomedical scientists are a somewhat hidden profession, as we work mostly in closed laboratories and very few people know what we do - except for “take blood tests and study poop and piss,” as many people say. That’s why it’s so important for us to take the opportunity of our international day and show people how diverse and important jobs we do.

For example, here at SAk there is a multi-disciplinary laboratory where four disciplines are combined under one unit, clinical biochemistry, hematology, pathology and viral sciences, and a blood bank. Then there are two smaller laboratories at SAk; pathology and physiology - there are therefore a wide variety of projects that biochemists work here at SAk,” says Inga Stella Pétursdóttir, head of the clinical library.

Here you can see a video made by the research departments on the occasion of the day.

We congratulate all biomedical scientists on their day!