Mary Michelle Shodja earned her Bachelors of Science Degree in Medical Technology in 1992 from California State University (CSU) Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. She took her medical technology clinical year training from the Southern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Hospital and Regional Laboratory. She earned her Masters of Science Degree in Bioanalysis in 1995 from her alma mater CSU Dominguez Hills and her PhD in Epidemiology from Loma Linda University School of Public Health in 2017. She gained Certifications in both the MLS American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP) and CLS National Credentialing Agency (NCA) in 1993. Her professional career includes working in the Microbiology department at the Southern California Kaiser Permanente Regional Laboratory and as a generalist in various hospitals working in Hematology, Chemistry, Serology, Immunology and Blood Bank. She also worked for 4 years as a Microbiology laboratory instructor at Loma Linda University School of Allied Health. Over the years she took on managerial, supervisory, teaching and other administrative and consultative work but her real passion lies in the clinical bench work and teaching. Earning her PhD in Epidemiology she plans to integrate her clinical laboratory knowledge to helping lower disease burdens globally.