Behind the Scenes From dentistry to marine biology to lab science, George Pence didn’t have a direct career path, but he ended up finding his niche in a field where he excelled for 43 years. For those whose lives he saved, it was an especially fortunate path. While many kids fear going to the dentist, George grew up visiting a very entertaining one. He made plans to attend Dartmouth University and follow in his dentist’s footsteps, but then his father died. His grandfather agreed to pay for his college, but only if he stayed local. George attended Lebanon Valley College and earned a degree in biology.
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Fall 2021 Issue
Instead of pursuing dentistry school, he took an interest in ecology. Upon the recommendation of one of his professors and mentors, Dr. Wolf, he took a course in marine biology at the University of Delaware. There, a Ph.D. student pursuing a degree in micropaleontology, which is the study of microsfossils (those which require a microscope to see), recruited him to take a trip aboard Duke University’s marine lab vessel to explore core holes in the ocean deep. The field of marine biology appealed to George, but not his stomach. He spent much of the trek seasick and, despite breaking his professor’s heart, decided it wasn’t the path for him. George trained at a local hospital for a year to become certified as a medical technologist. He took a job with Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, serving as hematology supervisor and later administrative director of clinical lab. The role entailed overseeing 42 supervised medical technologists and laboratory technicians seven days a week, for what was “the longest 10 years of my life,” he said, due to the constant on-call environment.
