Celebrating Women’s History Month 2025 at Carter BloodCare
Women have played a vital role in the advancement of blood transfusion research and practices dating back to the first human-to-human blood transfusion in the 1800s.
For example, Winifred Mayer Ashby, born in 1879, was the author of life-changing research that directly led to improved blood storage and transportation practices. Helen Ranney, born in 1920, led vital advancements in the treatment of sickle cell disease through blood transfusion through her research.
What we’re able to do today to ensure a healthy, local blood supply can be attributed to women like Ashby, Ranney and many others. For Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting women at Carter BloodCare who play vital roles in ensuring patients in North, Central and East Texas have access to lifesaving blood when they need it.
In a roundtable discussion, we asked five outstanding Carter BloodCare women about their careers, mentorship, passion for healthcare and more.
Dr. Barbara Bryant is the CEO of Carter BloodCare. Jacquelyn Decker is a Manager of Mobile Donor Recruitment on the Field Recruitment team; Melody Horn works as a Mobile Operations Coordinator on the Mobile Collections Administration team; Pam Boyd is a Manager on the Reference and Transfusion team; and Patricia McLemore is an Operations Coordinator of Interpersonal Relations on the Donor Communications team.
What is your favorite thing about working at Carter BloodCare?
Dr. Barbara Bryant (BB): My favorite thing about working at Carter BloodCare is the mission and everyone’s commitment to fulfilling our mission.
Jacquelyn Decker (JD): Knowing the impact we have on the community every day. During my NEO class almost 15 years ago my trainer, Tricia Steward-Swain, told me that not everyone gets to save lives every day like we do. It took me a while to realize what she was talking about. Since then, I have become a manager and a parent of a transfusion recipient, and I try to echo to my team what I was told on day one – that every role at Carter BloodCare is vital to saving lives in our communities.
Melody Horn (MH): My favorite thing about working at Carter BloodCare is our mission statement. I try to live by it personally every day and continuously help my team understand the power of our mission: “We save lives by making transfusions possible.”
Pam Boyd (PB): Saving lives. Every day, lives are saved because of Carter BloodCare. It is a very rewarding and wonderful place to work. I’ve been here for 23 years and can’t imagine working anywhere else.
Patricia McLemore (PM): My favorite thing about working at Carter BloodCare is the chance to interact daily with people of all ages and backgrounds. And most of all, I love the fact that Carter BloodCare stands by its core values of Accountability, Excellence, Integrity and Teamwork.
What made you want to pursue a career in healthcare/transfusion medicine?
BB: I fell in love with the blood bank during my first rotation in medical technology school at Charity Hospital New Orleans. During my first week of training, the first donor I ever stuck had a grand mal seizure during the collection, I witnessed two young boys learning to give themselves anti-hemophiliac factor in case their mom wasn’t home to help them during a bleeding episode and a patient coded in the apheresis area. I couldn’t wait for week two!
MH: The person who inspired me to pursue a career in healthcare was my aunt, Maria Del Jesús. Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to be like her. She’s a phlebotomist, and she was the one who introduced me to Carter BloodCare. I also have a deep desire to help people, and I feel fortunate to have found a company that not only teaches but also molds you to perform at your best.
PB: I had always been drawn to healthcare. As a child, I had been hospitalized for a short time and was very impressed with the nurses, so I had planned to pursue a career in nursing. Soon after, I toured the FBI crime laboratory in Washington D.C., which was fascinating to me. So, I took the desire to be in healthcare and combined it with my interest in the laboratory. The result was medical technology.
What is the most fulfilling part of your career, or what part of your job do you love the most?
BB: Everyone at Carter BloodCare, regardless of our roles, works together as a team to provide care for patients and donors. Even on the busiest or roughest of days, we go home knowing we made a difference in someone’s life.
JD: Talking with donors or blood drive sponsors at blood drives and at donor recognition banquets. I love learning the stories behind why they donate blood or why they host blood drives with us. They keep me motivated when my job gets tough, and they help me remember why we do what we do.
MH: What I love about my job is that I’m able to add value to people’s lives. I truly enjoy helping others grow and seeing them become the best version of themselves.
PB: There are many things that I love, but two stand out. First, I like puzzles and the work we do is like solving puzzles. We determine what specific antibodies to red blood cells a patient has made and what blood type would be best to transfuse to a patient. It’s rewarding when we can solve that puzzle and save a life. Secondly, I have the pleasure of working with our IS department to help create a new laboratory information system. It was a very fun and rewarding project that we implemented in 2020, and the IS department still lets me validate changes and upgrades.
Is there anything (like a seminal moment) you can think of from your childhood or your first experiences in your career that affirmed your desire/passion to pursue this career?
BB: When I was in 4th grade, my grandmother gave me a set of the World Book Encyclopedia (this was decades before the internet). I loved reading those books, and that is where I first learned about the different types of blood and the fascinating field of blood banking. I did my first book report on blood types in 4th grade.
MH: I was the oldest of 10 cousins and two siblings. I would teach them, pretending I was the teacher, and we were in a classroom learning. I loved seeing them learn from me and do better. That’s when I realized I have a passion for teaching and leading others.
PB: I mentioned this previously, but my desire to be a nurse after I was hospitalized as a child, combined with my interest in the laboratory after touring the FBI crime laboratory, led me to pursue this career.
What advice do you have for women starting out in your career?
BB: Find your passion and go for it. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
JD: Don’t worry about getting off track or behind in your career due to life, kids or anything else. Apply for the job, take the promotion and you will figure out how to manage everything along the way. I worried that having young children when I took my current role would be an issue and hinder my success. I look back now, 12 years later, and I think I handle adversity and change at work better now because I pushed through those tough times early on juggling my new role and my young kids at home.
MH: The advice I would give is to stay true to yourself. You are meant for so much more, so keep your focus. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. Invest in yourself and continue to grow with purpose.
PB: Find your passion. There are so many different options available for careers in medical technology. If one area doesn’t appeal, there are lots of other options. I started out working in a research laboratory before moving toward blood banking and it was the best move for me.
PM: My advice for women starting out in my career is to take time to learn or study people skills. It is important to learn how to interact or engage with people of all cultures and how to manage human interactions. I believe that’s how I earned my title as Operations Coordinator, Interpersonal Relations.
What does it mean to you to be a leader in your field/ of your department?
BB: I feel it is a privilege and honor to be a physician leader in the field of transfusion medicine. Being a leader gives me the opportunity to encourage and empower others and as a leader, I learn so much from everyone around me.
JD: My favorite part about being a leader is seeing my team learn, grow and succeed. Seeing each of them take ownership of their territories, assignments, and projects, and, most importantly, becoming a team that goes above and beyond for each other has been very fulfilling. They are a group of individuals that I look forward to working with each day. I can’t take credit for how great they are, because they brought those traits with them, but I take pride in getting to lead them every day and seeing the work they do together.
MH: It means being humble, accepting the responsibility that has been given to you, and adding value to your team. It’s about consistently showing up for them, celebrating with them, growing with them and being a leader who rises and falls alongside them.
PB: My department is my second family. They are loyal, dependable and highly skilled at what we do. We make a great team, and I really enjoy working with all of them.
PM: Being a leader in my department means that I get a chance to inspire and motivate our teams to perform at their best. Being part of my management team also gives us a chance to demonstrate appreciation by highlighting and rewarding them for their achievements.
Did you have a mentor early in your career that helped you get to where you are today? What made that person a good mentor?
BB: My mentor and now dear friend, Dr. Jack Alperin, is an “old school” hematologist who taught me both the science and art of medicine. He was a demanding teacher but always a compassionate physician, and he continues to challenge me to be a better physician even today.
JD: My mentor is Ikram Janouane and I worked with her at Marriott International before coming to Carter BloodCare. I wanted to join the sales team at our hotel but kept getting overlooked for the open positions. She recognized that I wanted more from my career there and suggested I start off in management in my department to get the exposure and training I needed. She promoted me, created a space for me to figure out what kind of manager I wanted to be and when I made mistakes, she showed grace and understanding when counseling me through each situation. I learned from her that a title was not what management was about. How I served my team and our guests ultimately was what it meant to be a leader.
MH: Yes, Mia Vactor. She highlighted my strengths and helped me with my weaknesses. She showed compassion, cared about my growth and saw potential in me before I even realized who I was. She truly believed in me. The most important characteristic she had was honesty — no matter what, honesty always came first.
PM: Les Brown was one of my early mentors. He was a motivational speaker I would see every time he came to town. One of my favorite quotes from him was if someone asked you how you were doing, you tell them “I’m doing better than good and better than most.” Another mentor in my life was my mother. She would tell me to fix my face before walking out the door because my problems are not everyone’s problems. I realized at an early age that I was being taught to be consistent with my attitude and to always try to carry a smile on my face. I believe that is a start to establish good people skills.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
JD: Don’t be afraid to take detours in your career path because they might just lead you to where you wanted to go in the first place. I desperately wanted to go into sales at my previous employer and ended up finding a role in management in a different department after some guidance from my manager. That detour gave me the experience I ultimately needed for my current role as a regional manager for our sales team here at Carter BloodCare and I found my way back to my career goals.
MH: I am grateful to all the leaders who have mentored me, and I continue to be guided by many to this day. I’ve been fortunate to learn from so many incredible individuals. Carter BloodCare has played a key role in shaping who I am today.
PB: There is currently a huge demand for medical technologists, so I encourage anyone who is interested in saving lives or working in healthcare to come join us.