Octavia M. Peck Palmer is academically unique as she conducts translational research, teaches, mentors, and directs clinical laboratories within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) organization. She is a board-certified clinical chemist and Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, with secondary faculty appointments within the Critical Care Medicine and Clinical and Translational Science departments. She is also the Division Director of Clinical Chemistry and directs CAP-accredited clinical laboratories that perform patient testing and provides both consultative and patient test result interpretation for healthcare providers within the healthcare organization. On July 1, 2023, Octavia was appointed the inaugural Vice Chair of Health Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion for the Department of Pathology. She earned her B.S. in Biology from Columbia College, Columbia, SC, cum laude, and her Ph.D. in Physiology from The Medical University of South in Charleston, SC. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Chemistry at Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO. She has over 100 peer- publications. Her recent journal publications focus on laboratory medicine leading the efforts to ensure health equity and include: Recognizing Laboratory Medicine's Collaborative Role in Identifying and Eliminating Health Disparities, Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine; AACC/NKF Guidance Document on Improving Equity in Chronic Kidney Disease Care, Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine;https://doi.org/10.1093/jalm/jfad022 Reconsidering the use of race adjustments in maternal serum screening, Am J Obstet Gynecol; and Feasibility of Embedding a Scalable, Virtually Enabled Biorepository in the Electronic Health Record for Precision Medicine. JAMA Netw Open. She received the 2020 Outstanding Teaching in Clinical Pathology Award and the 2022 American Association of Clinical Chemistry, Society for Young Clinical Laboratorians Mentoring Award. She was named to The Pathologists Power List and spotlighted as the next generation of laboratory medicine – the "rising stars" of pathology. Octavia M. Peck Palm is currently the President of the Association for Diagnostics and Laboratory Medicine (ADLM, formerly the American Association of Clinical Chemistry), "a global scientific and medical professional organization dedicated to clinical laboratory science and its application to healthcare," with over 6,000 members.