Amanda Harrington, PhD, D(ABMM)
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Director, Clinical Microbiology Laboratory
Vice Chair for Faculty Development
Quality Medical Director, Clinical Pathology
Education:
Graduate School: University of Kansas (PhD)
Fellowship: University of Washington
What motivated you to become a Pathologist?
I think you could start a club made up of microbiologists who got their kick start from the 1994 book 'The Hot Zone' and the adaptation of that book into the 1995 movie 'Outbreak.' I'm not ashamed to say that's me too. After initially thinking I'd become a physician, I decided to go to graduate school instead. I liken my experience in the lab to that moment in the Harry Potter books when Mr. Ollivander puts the right wand into Harry's hand for the first time. Maybe not quite that dramatic for me, but something clicked when I started working in 'the lab', and it felt like I'd found my new home. I was immersed in the world of Shigella, and I was on my way. I also knew early on that I wanted to migrate back toward patient care and a world as wide in pathogens as research is deep. The clinical microbiology lab is the perfect home for me, and it's been an amazing experience to have transitioned from my start with Shigella into a career working in the clinical microbiology lab of an academic medical center every day. Each day is an intersection of fascinating microbiology, impacting patient care, and more research projects than any one person can handle. It's such an exciting time to be a clinical microbiologist.
What do you love most about Loyola Pathology?
What I love most about Loyola Pathology is the people. From our faculty, residents, lab scientists and administrative colleagues, as well as our colleagues outside this department, this is a group of people and a hospital culture that cares about people. I came to Loyola for the unique opportunities that it presented. I stay because of the people, who continue to work to improve and strive for better, for both our patients and our colleagues.
What is one thing people may not know about you?
In addition to being a movie junkie, I'm a space nerd. I love movies about space (favorite movie on repeat=Apollo 13), facts and trivia, visiting our space centers around the country, and I have a Lego replica of a Saturn V rocket in my office. Most recent highlight = getting to visit the restoration of the Apollo Mission Control Center (right down to the cigarette butts in the ashtrays) and watch the original Apollo 11 lunar landing like it would have been in real time at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Some of the restoration was performed by the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS, a place where I took field trips as a kid and dreamed of being an astronaut. AND I got to see a sneak peak of the new mission control center for the future Artemis missions. Next life = space microbiologist!