As the COVID-19 pandemic has not been contained, "health" and "safety" have become the most frequently used keywords for people.

Like many other vigorous young people, Jason Fischer also loves sunshine, beach, outdoor activities…He really wants to get back to his past lifestyle with his beloved wife. Recently, he had to deal with two unprecedented challenges: one was the surge of customers' demand under COVID-19 and the workload surge along with it; and the other was that he and other team members were found to have mild symptoms of COVID-19. Finally he and other team members embraced the challenges and tried to solve the problems. In this issue of the newsletter, let's appreciate the positive energy demonstrated by Jason Fischer, Director of Operations at Vela Lab, and his team.

Jason Fischer

 

Below are the interviews with Jason.

What' s your current role in Vela?

Hello, my name is Jason Fischer, my current role with Vela is the Director of Laboratory Operations in our Fairfield, NJ office.  I have been in this role since July of 2018 and have been an employee of Vela since 2016.

What's  your daily work?

Generally speaking, my responsibilities pertain to the maintenance, functionality and daily operations of the CLIA laboratory in Fairfield, NJ.  However, my daily work typically spreads over a range of functions from support to sales.  Given the size of our team, it is vital for everyone to assist in as many ways as possible.

What kind of career path have you experienced before joining Vela?

My first job after college was working in the vaccine research department at Pfizer Phamacetical, where I performed wet lab testing and data analysis for the Prevnar 13 and Trumemba clinical trials.  Following this, my career path led me into molecular diagnostics, when I accepted a position at BioReference Laboratories as a Medical Technologist.  In this position, I worked with microarrays, Sanger sequencing, qPCR, automation and next generation sequencing (NGS).  My time at BioReference gave me the technical knowledge and skills that allowed me to fulfill my responsibilities as a Field Application Scientist (FAS) at Vela Diagnostics.

How would you describe your own personality?

I would describe myself as a problem-solver. Whether in the laboratory or in my personal life, I enjoy planning and bringing resolution to any issue, big or small. I would consider myself outgoing and adventurous and always eager to try something different, especially a new dish. I am friendly and extremely reliable, always willing to go the extra mile to help someone in need.
 

What interested you the most about your current position?

When I first joined Vela, my position was more geared toward customer service and troubleshooting which was a very valuable experience, however, I have always been more drawn towards laboratory work.  When the position of Laboratory Director became available, I knew it would give me a chance to not only work in the laboratory, but also participate in the project planning, budgeting and overall management of the laboratory.

Jason with team memebrs preparing fro AMP in Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

A memorable project you have led in your work

The most memorable project I have worked on would definitely be our FDA clinical trial for the HIV-1 Genotyping and DRM assay.  This project required several different functional groups across the globe to work collaboratively to achieve our end goal of FDA approval on this product.  My involvement in this project was both as the Principle Investigator for one of our 3 clinical trial sites and as a point of contact between the other 2 clinical trial sites (The Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic) and the core team at Vela.  I am very proud of everyone involved in this project, it was a true team effort.

A story of fighting with Covid-19

My wife is a nurse and she was given a positive diagnosis for Covid-19 early in April.  At that time it was also assumed that myself and my colleagues, James DiPaola and Michele Volaric-Noriega, were also positive as we were showing mild symptoms and had come into direct or indirect contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus.  During this period, we were working on our EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) submission for the VelaDx SARS-Cov-2 assay. Quarantining for 2 weeks would have pushed back our timelines for approval, so rather than taking time out of the lab, we limited ourselves as the only people going to the office to be able to continue our work and finish our submission to the FDA on time. 
 

What's the progress in your recent intensive work? How do your team members collaborate?

Since the pandemic began all of our work has been Covid related, so the most recent accomplishments and progresses have all been on this front.  The demand has increased dramatically since the pandemic began and has required all our US employees to shoulder a much greater workload.  I think our biggest achievement during this period has been our ability to adapt to the growing demand that we have encountered. 

Our collaborations are usually face to face on a daily basis, given that the majority of the U.S. team works out of the New Jersey office. This gives our group a chance to discuss issues, share experiences and strategize as a team.  These experiences do not only brings us closer as a team, but allows us to agree on a path forward in response to any challenges we are currently facing.

 

Preparing for lab work during CoV-2
 

The biggest challenge of the job 

The biggest challenge of my current position is also what makes it so exciting.  As I eluded to earlier, the scope of my responsibilities extends beyond the lab, which can become overwhelming at times, however, gives me the opportunity to participate in different aspects of the business and interact with different functional groups.  I try to overcome this by managing my time as effectively as possible and completing one task before moving onto the next (sounds simple, but it works).

How to keep energetic and active under the special period?

When I’m not playing a pickup game of basketball, my wife and I enjoy being near the water as much as possible.  While we haven’t been able to much of this under the current circumstances, we know that the restrictions will be lifted on beaches soon and we hope to get back to what we love. During the past few months we have tried to stay as active as we can by exercising at home and going on long walks through town with our dog Chase.

 

Jason and his wife
 

Editor's note:

Life has never been smooth sailing. Maintaining a positive mindset, planning our way ahead proactively and taking actions in a timely manner will enable us to enjoy our growth. Perhaps there is still a long way to go before we can recover from COVID-19. But for active problem solvers , they will not stop pursuing a better future in life because of this, and instead, they will make active adjustments after having a clear understanding of the situation, and will plan ahead to take matters into their own hands. This is a great life to live.