Inspired to her career in the medical field by her grandfather, who was a nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital, Sherry Miles earned a bachelor’s degree in allied health from the University of Kentucky as well as a specialty license in microbiology. Embarking on her career as a medical technologist with SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories before joining Quest Diagnostics as a medical technologist and microbiologist from 1991 to 2001. She rose to become a laboratory supervisor at Quest Diagnostics from 2001 to 2004 and then the quality assurance manager from 2004 to 2006. From there, Ms. Miles spent two years as a performance measure analyst with JPMorgan Chase & Co. from 2006 to 2008 and eight years as an administrative assistant with First Baptist Church Bracktown from 2008 to 2016.
Ms. Miles began her tenure with Clark Regional Medical Center as an on-call medical technologist in 2011 and has served in the same capacity with AMN Healthcare Services Inc. since 2015 as well. Between her duties with both medical center and healthcare service company, she spends four days a week traveling as a contractual employee to various locations where she provides chemistry, microbiology, hematology, toxicology and immunology tests as needed, as well as working with blood banks. Holding considerable expertise in microbiology, Ms. Miles intends to continue on her career path, traveling and bringing her skills to hospitals throughout the United States. Her ultimate goal is to work in as many states as she can before her eventual retirement.
Standing out in her field, Ms. Miles has excelled as a result of her innate skill in relating to other people. She notes that getting to know and talking to strangers allows her to help them understand what she is doing. Above everything, she has been continually motivated throughout her career by the patients she sees and the people she works with, particularly since helping others, be that medically, personally or professionally, is something that is very important to her. Open-minded and adaptive to change, Ms. Miles has always been willing to try new things and figure out how to achieve her goals effectively and efficiently. This is particularly important in her work as a contractual medical technologist as she frequently has to adapt to the workflow of new locations and teams.
In that vein, Ms. Miles is very skilled at multi-tasking, something she manages through careful organization, prioritizing what needs to happen first so that things flow smoothly, and good time management. For her exceptional work, she has been named “Best Team Player” on multiple occasions and has received several awards for quality assurance as well. Beyond these accolades, she considers her favorite part of her job to be helping people, plain and simple, both knowing that she is helping patients to feel better and helping to support the doctors and nurses who provide care. To young and aspiring professionals, Ms. Miles would advise being true to yourself and make sure you have chosen your job for the right reason. If you don’t have passion for what you do, it makes stressful situations all the more difficult to handle.
Outside of her professional endeavors, Ms. Miles is an active member of her community. She has notably volunteered her time to a variety of events, including outreach for homeless and underserved women and children. Additionally, she has spent time working in event planning for community and church events, lending her skills to everything from coordination to organization to decorating. Living her life by the motto, “Keep it moving,” Ms. Miles is the proud mother of one son, who holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Murray State University and currently works from home for United Healthcare.
