In commemoration of Medical Laboratory Professions Week (April 23-29), meet some of our lab professionals in the Penn Jersey Blood Services Region!

Marvin Oniate

Marvin Oniate is the manager at the Red Cross Immunohematology Reference Laboratory (IRL) in Philadelphia. He ensures the lab is running efficiently and meeting hospital customer needs. His IRL team works to find specific blood matches for patients with rare transfusion needs, including those with sickle cell disease. He frequently works on challenging and diverse patient cases and antigen requests from hospitals and transfusion services.

Marvin began working at the Red Cross as a technologist and has been promoted into other roles. “The Red Cross offered opportunities to me, and they care about helping their employees develop and grow,” he shared. “The upper-level management are approachable and supportive.”

Marvin enjoys the variety of work and the people he gets to work with.

“I do my best as a manager to understand our team, their individual situations and then find solutions that best fit their needs,” he said.

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Djeneba Toure

Meet Djeneba Toure, a laboratory assistant at the National Reference Laboratory for Specialized Testing (NRLST) in Philadelphia. She is responsible for receiving and processing blood samples, managing inventory of testing substances and laboratory supplies and archiving records.

Djeneba first heard about opportunities at the Red Cross when she was studying in Geneva, Switzerland in 2004. One of her teachers often spoke about the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies movement founder Henri Dunant, and Djeneba developed an appreciation for the mission of the Red Cross. She served in the Peace Corps in Africa from 2008 to 2020 developing volunteer partnerships with non-governmental organizations, like the Red Cross.

After moving to the US in 2020, she began volunteering with the Red Cross which led to a full-time position as a laboratory assistant. Djeneba loves her work at the Red Cross.

“Blood is so precious, it’s life,” she said. “I meet wonderful people working here and it is a pleasant working atmosphere. It’s not about what I personally do; it’s about what we all do together, and I am grateful to contribute to that.”

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Yen Tran

Yen Tran is a molecular technologist at the National Molecular Laboratory (NML) in Philadelphia. In her work, Yen performs molecular genotyping of red blood cell antigens to find compatible donor matches for patients.

Prior to coming to the Red Cross, she held a number of laboratory roles where she studied genes affecting drought tolerance in tomatoes, detected markers to measure progression of multiple myeloma in patients, and worked as a DNA analyst, among other roles.

Yen loves that her work combines her interests while helping patients.

“What I like most about my job is the opportunity to be involved in patient care while pursuing my interest in molecular lab work,” she said.

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Career Opportunities

The American Red Cross has a variety of career opportunities in Laboratory Services and Manufacturing. To learn more about available roles, visit the career center at redcross.org.