Students who want to learn how to analyze human tissue samples in a laboratory can enroll in a new program at AACC.
The college, which introduced a histotechnician program in summer 2023 but hasn’t offered any classes since last August, has three courses this semester: HTC 100, Introduction to Histology Safety and Techniques; HTC 201, Advanced Histotechnology; and HTC 204, Genetic and Pathogenic Disease.
“Not many people know what histotechs do,” professor Briana Zeck, the histotechnician program director, said. “Because people haven’t really heard of us, and there aren’t that many programs, there’s a national shortage. So the program itself is very important.”
Zeck, who created the non-accredited curriculum for AACC, said fewer than 50 histotechnician programs exist in the U.S.
“There is a huge necessity to create more histotech programs,” Zeck, the college’s only histotechnican professor, said. “It’s really fine detail work.”