Governor Lee Appoints Buffy Key to Tennessee Medical Laboratory Board

Cookeville, Tenn. – Buffy Key, interim CEO at Cookeville Regional Medical Center, has been appointed by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to sit on the Tennessee Medical Laboratory Board. The Board is made up of 13 members to serve four-year terms, and Key is the only hospital administrator to sit on this board giving her a unique perspective to the board.

“I am truly honored to be appointed to the Tennessee Medical Laboratory Board by Governor Lee,” said Key. “The majority of my 32 years in healthcare I have chosen to spend involved in laboratory services. This is something I am passionate about, and I look forward to learning and serving the next four years on behalf of the State of Tennessee alongside other pathologists, physicians, medical laboratory personnel, clinical laboratory managers, laboratory educators, and a non-laboratory citizen.”

The Tennessee Medical Laboratory Board was created in 1990 by an act of the State Legislature, according to the Tennessee Department of Health.  The Board is responsible for safeguarding the health, safety, and welfare of Tennesseans, by requiring that all who provide medical laboratory services within this state are qualified. The Board interprets the laws, rules, and regulations to determine the appropriate standards of practice in an effort to ensure the highest degree of professional conduct. The Board is also responsible for the investigation of alleged violations of the Practice Act and rules and is responsible for the discipline of licensees who are found guilty of such violations.

Key started her 32-year healthcare career as a medical laboratory scientist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center while serving in the Army National Guard. She holds a bachelor’s degree in medical technology from East Tennessee State University and a master of management degree in health care from Vanderbilt University. Beginning with her work in the military, she has had a wide range of healthcare experience. As a medical technologist, she previously worked in the laboratory at Johnson City Medical Center, CRMC and Vanderbilt. She also worked with the Bayer Corporation as a field service engineer in the diagnostics division and then returned to CRMC as the lab manager and then the lab director. Buffy left CRMC to return to Vanderbilt as the administrative director of operations-clinical laboratories, she currently serves as the interim chief executive officer at CRMC.