Origins: Rooted in the Heart of the Region
What are your memories of going to work with your parents? Did you sit at a desk and spin in the chair? Did you get a chance to wear a hard hat and goggles? Well for owner and CEO, Michelle Volk, her memories were a little more off the cuff.
Imagine growing up with a police detective as a grandfather and a forensic toxicologist as a father. Michelle's father and former GLL laboratory director, Dr. Michael E. Caplis, started his laboratory above a boiler room in the former St. Mary Medical Center hospital in Gary, Indiana during the early 1970's. His methods and scientific development helped to mold the path that forensic toxicology still hails as revolutionary to this day.
These roots in law enforcement led her to experience both some morbid yet interesting things even as a child. She recalls crime scene photos hewn across the coffee table or putting together drug testing kits in the office of her father's laboratory.
After graduating from Purdue University, Michelle, who intended to go to law school, was gently coerced to work in her father's lab for the summer; the rest is GLL history. Michelle spent the next 20 years under the tenure of her father. She learned the ins and outs of forensic toxicology and in 2003, Michelle was promoted to President and CEO.
Michelle's grassroots, passion for forensic toxicology and total investment in her community has made GLL an exceptional place. Next time you see Michelle at a conference, ask her about her childhood memories or the laboratory and you too will understand her heart, mind, body, and soul is immersed in education about drugs of abuse.