Chastity West probably could use roller skates. The microbiology/virology laboratory supervisor at Nebraska Medicine describes her role as a problem-solver. “Troubleshooting, putting out fires, that’s my day-to-day,” she said. “I’m always on the move.”
Jill Branson, laboratory director, said: “Chastity is a trusted and valued resource for the Microbiology and NBU lab teams. She played a key role in expanding the NBU (Nebraska Biocontainment Unit) laboratory test menu to better serve patients and providers and was instrumental in preparing the microbiology laboratory for the Beaker go-live in June.
“Known for her positive attitude, collaborative spirit, and willingness to take on challenges, Chastity consistently demonstrates a strong commitment to supporting her colleagues and advancing laboratory services,” Branson said.
Ryan Storz, lab manager, said: “Over the past two years, Chastity’s dedication, innovation and tireless commitment have been a significant reason for the department’s success in maintaining testing abilities and quality of care throughout the department flood and recovery in the spring of 2025 and being prepared for the transition to the new Beaker system.”
West has spent her whole career at Nebraska Medicine. She started in the Core Laboratory in 2002 as a lab tech. She joined the microbiology lab in 2006 and has been there mostly since, aside from a two-year stint working with Point of Care and expanding the capabilities of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit laboratory. She became microbiology/virology lab supervisor in 2024.
She still is part of the lab team for the biocontainment unit. “We keep the lab in a ready state,” she said. “We have the technologists come through regularly to perform quality control and do proficiency testing just so we stay competent with the testing.” That training pays off when the unit is activated, for Ebola in 2014, COVID in 2020 and most recently the Andes hantavirus this year. The idea is that people are so well-prepared that they know exactly what to do even in stressful situations.
In her main role, she supervises 17 people—“my direct reports are the second- and third-shift staff here.” A lot of her work is administrative, reviewing quality control and making sure procedures are all up to date. But she’s also the go-to person when staff have questions. West said she would like to think her colleagues view her as a good mentor.
She enjoyed working on the bench as a medical laboratory scientist, and she still fills in on occasion. “Given our patient population, we get to see lots of interesting organisms, and you learn things you’ve never heard of before, probably every week.” But she likes her troubleshooting role as supervisor even more. “I do enjoy the challenge of figuring out what everybody else’s problems are and working through that. You never know what’s going to happen from day to day. It’s a good thing—always a new challenge to overcome.”
When she’s not at work, West can be found in her flower garden at home. She also spends a lot of time running her youngest daughter, who’s a sophomore at Millard North, around to show choir and musical practice. “Keeping up with her schedule keeps me busy.”