The Executive
Adam El-Hosseiny, 35, COO
Access Medical Laboratories, Jupiter
As a young boy growing up in New Jersey, Adam El-Hosseiny was drawn to the art of the deal, somehow acquiring his first Pokémon card and building an “amazing collection” through trading, shoveling driveways with his brother in the winter — without even owning a shovel — and later selling CDs. He gained an understanding of the importance of delighting customers: “If there was a transaction being done, such as shoveling, we always did a superb job so they’re happy. If I was doing trades, I wanted to make sure the person I'm trading with was happy, but I always made sure I had the better end of the deal. I think I just loved commerce, that was my thing.”
When the El-Hosseiny family moved to Palm Beach County in 2001, his parents — a chemist and a microbiologist — quickly landed new positions in the medical industry but noticed a gap in the private laboratory sector. Unlike the New York-New Jersey market, Florida’s diagnostics industry was dominated by only two players. Seeing an opportunity for a specialized diagnostic laboratory, they founded Access Medical Laboratories in Jupiter in 2003, offering innovative services such as 24-hour turnarounds and tests that require 50% less blood than the industry norm, combined with “white-glove customer service.”
El-Hosseiny, then 13, quickly put his business acumen to work helping at the new venture. Unlike most young teens, he spent his afternoons and weekends answering phones, doing data entry, mopping floors — whatever was needed — while gaining hands-on experience in multiple departments. He was also succeeding in academics, and with a 3.7 GPA at Palm Beach Gardens High, he attracted several college scholarship offers.
In 2008, El-Hosseiny faced a pivotal choice: go to college or fully commit to the family business. His parents did not pressure him either way, he says, and trusting his gut, he chose the latter, working with his two older brothers. “Nothing is a better teacher than experience,” he says. “I got a degree from 'Access University' and I’m very happy I took that path.”
Leadership Journey
Starting full time in sales, El-Hosseiny rose to vice president of the division in 2010. He soon recognized that true success depended on aligning laboratory operations with client expectations, and to maintain Access’ promise of quick, high-quality results, he immersed himself in optimizing workflows and pioneering automation, ensuring both the laboratory and Access’ clients were happy. This strategic focus led to his transition into operations leadership, and in 2020 he was promoted to chief operating officer.
What El-Hosseiny enjoys most as COO is “working with my team, creating opportunities for individuals to not only execute, but to grow within the organization” and “problem solving together.” Looking back, he adds, “as a leader, I could have listened more. That’s how I operate now, but when I was younger, I would do more talking, less listening, and if I have any regret, that would be it.”
Company Growth
El-Hosseiny led Access through unprecedented growth after the company sold its regional client business to Labcorp in 2017. The sale meant a significant loss of volume, yet under his watch, Access’ business grew tenfold between 2017 and 2023, he says, and he expects another round of 40% growth this year. Today, Access offers over 400 tests on blood, urine or saliva samples. The company tests thousands of patients a day and has performed more than 50 million tests to date.
Scaling a business while maintaining excellent service requires constant investment in people, space and technology, says El-Hosseiny. “If clients are promised white-glove service and real human interaction, we must deliver, no matter how fast we grow.”
Over the past four years, the company has expanded from 25,000 to more than 40,000 square feet across three facilities, with plans to exceed 50,000 square feet this year. Notably, though Access services patients all over the country, all their lab tests are done in Palm Beach County, where their workforce has grown by 50% in the last year, reaching 200-plus employees, El-Hosseiny says.
In 2023, the family sold a majority stake in the company to Grupo Diagnóstico Aries, or GDA, in a nine-figure deal, with the El-Hosseiny brothers still owning the rest. GDA is the largest diagnostic lab group out of Mexico, with over 350 locations and 18 brands, El-Hosseiny says. “They believe in the vision, they believe in the Access brand and they haven’t changed a thing. It shows that we are definitely aligned, not only in what was built thus far, but also where we’re heading and the impact we’re trying to make in the diagnostic space here in the U.S. It’s been a very fruitful partnership, and I’m very excited for what we’re doing together.”
What’s Next
El-Hosseiny hopes to see Access Medical Laboratories become the largest specialty diagnostic lab in the country. To achieve this, the company is continuously expanding, both in capacity and with its test menu. For instance, this year Access is set to introduce five specialized hormone tests. But more importantly, the company is undergoing a major technology transition aimed at quadrupling Access’s current capacity — an undertaking El-Hosseiny describes as a “heart transplant of the lab.”
What’s more, Access is primed to thrive in the evolving health care landscape as more and more people seek personalized root-cause solutions, El-Hosseiny says. The company has been working with practices offering functional or integrative medical care for years, positioning Access as a significant player in the fast-growing field.
Family Dynamics
“No matter how bad we argued, we weren’t walking away,” says El-Hosseiny about the early years as a family-owned business. “We passed that point where most families typically give up, and we made sure we were not giving up on each other. We worked through any problems that arose.”