Laboratory Services

Aneta Rafalowski, MD, FCAP: Medical Director of Starling Laboratories

Starling Physicians provides comprehensive clinical, anatomic and molecular pathology services through Starling Physicians Laboratories.  Anatomic and surgical pathology services are provided via partnership with Eastern Connecticut Pathology Consultants, PC (ECPC), a premier pathology group providing pathology services throughout Connecticut and Southern Massachusetts. 

Dr. Aneta Rafalowski is a member of ECPC and serves as the Medical Director of the Starling Physicians Clinical and Anatomic Pathology Laboratories.  Dr. Rafalowski is board-certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology by the American Board of Pathology.  Dr. Rafalowski received her medical degree from Poznan University of Medical Sciences. She completed her residency training at Hartford Hospital and is a Fellow of the American College of Pathologists.  Dr. Rafalowski worked as an Assistant Professor at Baystate Medical Center for 2.5 years and was involved in teaching residents and a cytopathology fellow. While there, she was a member of the Cytopathology Fellowship Clinical Competency Committee, Solid Tumor Triage Committee, Peer Review Committee and the AP Operations and Neuropathology/Muscle Biopsy Triage Committee.

Dr. Rafalowski’s and ECPC’s primary responsibility is providing clinical care via pathology case diagnosis with accurate and timely case signout.  The Medical Director is also responsible for:

• Laboratory test validation
• Overall quality of testing
• Compliance with all regulatory requirements

Dr. Rafalowski works closely with the administrative team to assist in the improvement of quality metrics and productivity and to assist in the expansion of in-house testing capabilities.  Starling’s physicians and patients are receiving the highest standards of pathology services equivalent to many tertiary-care facilities with the personal touch and care only possible in local community settings.

Nancy Bienkowski: Starling Laboratory Operations Manager

Nancy is a certified Medical Technologist with over 30 years of Laboratory experience in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. She has worked in both small labs and large city hospital labs. She has managed and or supervised all areas of the lab and shares that the Blood Bank is especially near and dear to her heart.

Nancy joined Starling Physicians in March of 2021 and serves as Starling’s Laboratory Operations Manager. Her goal is to increase testing in our laboratory to reduce the number of tests that are currently being sent out to reference labs which will enable a quicker turnaround time to our physicians.