Diagnostic Guru

Diagnostic Guru


What Happens When you Walk Through The “No”

October 21, 2025

Guest Title - Barbara Zehentner, COO, Molecular Testing Labs


When you start your career with a “No” in the 4th grade, what do you do with that? If you’re Barbara Zehentner, you turn all of the No’s in to one big fat “Yes” and bet on yourself.  


Dr. Barbara Zehentner is the COO of Molecular Testing Labs, with over 25 years experience in molecular diagnostics and clinical laboratory management. She holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and an MBA, and is a certified high-complexity clinical laboratory director. Her leadership experience includes roles at Roche, GSK, HematoLogics and Adaptive Biotechnologies, and she’s come a long way from that dairy farm in Germany.


On today’s episode, Barbara shares why it's so important for us to take gender out of science and math, to pay attention to the little things we say and do that communicate to our next generation of women that they can’t or shouldn’t. Barbara also takes us through her own journey of “No’s” and how she broke through that to become the scientist and leader she is today.