A student’s journey from Southwest Virginia to one of the world’s leading labs on tick-borne illness

By Dan Carrigan

Growing up in Lebanon, a small Southwest Virginia town tucked into the hills of Russell County, Alex Counts had long been drawn to health care but wasn’t sure how to proceed. A fall morning in 2019 revealed his route.

Then a pre-med student taking a one-credit careers course at Southwest Virginia Community College, Counts walked into the classroom for what he thought would be a routine presentation. Joshua W. Williams, Ph.D., coordinator of Virginia Commonwealth University’s medical laboratory sciences program in Abingdon, described a field that Counts had barely heard of.

“Dr. Williams explained medical laboratory science and how it sometimes is viewed as behind the scenes – but then showing how it plays a direct role in patient care and in human health,” Counts said. “This caught my attention.”

At that time, moving to Richmond to study and pursue the field wasn’t feasible. But VCU’s distance-learning site in Abingdon was the gateway, and Counts enrolled in the program offered by the College of Health Professions.

“Coming from the rural, underserved area, having the opportunity to stay at home and also receive scholarships helped me financially,” he said, emphasizing how VCU’s satellite campus could open career paths for local residents.

The distance-learning model erased the miles between Abingdon and Richmond. Faculty rotated between in-person and virtual teaching, and the technology connecting the sites made students feel part of one program.

“We were five hours away, but it felt like we were right there,” Counts said.

As his courses progressed, he advanced from studying diagnostic science to performing it. Counts worked in a hospital laboratory in Abingdon while completing his undergraduate degree, and the experience pointed him toward research. With encouragement from faculty, he made the step he once assumed was impossible: relocating to VCU in Richmond, where he could earn his master’s degree in MLS and enhance his research skills.

Counts joined the laboratory of Michael Lacy, Ph.D., where hands-on research became part of his daily life.

“Dr. Lacy taught me so much, from troubleshooting to critical thinking skills and more,” Counts said.

He also stepped into the profession’s instructional side, joining the adjunct faculty to teach immunohematology, and “that experience shifted me to see that I really wanted to pursue a career in academia.”

Today, Counts is a Ph.D. student in VCU’s School of Medicine, working in one of the nation’s leading translational research environments. In the laboratory of Richard Marconi, Ph.D. – a pioneer in Lyme disease and tick-borne illness research – Counts is part of a team developing diagnostic assays and vaccines with real-world clinical potential. His specific focus is detecting babeosiosis, a malaria-like parasitic disease.

“I’ve seen firsthand how essential these diagnostic assays are for patient health,” he said. “The MLS program built that foundation to allow me to pursue this research.”

The leap from a rural community college to a leading infectious disease lab might seem unlikely. But Counts said VCU created access and built confidence – which he said other students in Southwest Virginia can embrace.

“Believe in yourself,” he said. “There are opportunities there, like this one, that can be achieved if you go after it.”

This story was originally published on the College of Health Professions website.