UTEP CLS Students Earns National Scholarship
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Originally published December 11, 2017
By Laura Acosta
UTEP Communications
Demi Veliz, a senior in UTEP’s Clinical Laboratory Science program, is one of five students to receive a national scholarship from the American Proficiency Institute (API).
Veliz expects to graduate from UTEP in May 2018 and plans to pursue a career specializing in hematology or blood banking. She hopes to earn a graduate degree in hematology or transfusion medicine.
API offers scholarships to outstanding students like Veliz who are enrolled in medical laboratory science programs in the United States.
“Now in our tenth year of awarding API Scholarships, the caliber of students entering the medical laboratory science profession continues to impress me,” said API President Daniel C. Edson in a press release. “This year’s scholarship winners are particularly inspirational. From growing up in a homeless shelter to regularly donating blood as a means of giving back, they all found a calling for the clinical laboratory profession.”
Veliz has been a regular blood donor since she was 15 years old.
“For me, donating blood is the simplest thing I could do,” Veliz said. “When I started donating blood I would ask the phlebotomist different questions. I wanted to know about blood types, where the blood went, and what it took for the patient to receive the blood.”
In addition to the API scholarship, the Sheriff’s Association of Texas awarded Veliz the Motorola Solutions Foundation Scholarship in November 2017. The association had previously awarded her an academic scholarship in 2015. Veliz also is a two-time recipient of the Arthur Redelf’s Scholarship from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Officers Association.
API is one of the largest proficiency testing providers in the world, serving over 20,000 laboratories. API offers innovative solutions and technical excellence for the proficiency testing needs of hospital laboratories, physician offices, clinics, and point-of-care testing sites.