WITH COURAGE , CARE
The microbiology laboratory at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore has five Stevenson graduates working there , including ( from left ) Mattie Milchling ' 16 , Kari Ritenour ' 13 , and lab manager Christin Reuter ' 08 . Also pictured : the Cepheid Gene Xpert , one of the instruments used for COVID-19 testing .
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE
The battle against COVID isn ’ t only fought side-by-side with patients and their families , it is fought through laboratories , testing , and research . Alumni from Stevenson ’ s Medical Laboratory Science ( MLS ) program are doing heroic work in these fields , with many performing COVID-19 antigen testing or testing for antibodies to the virus . Other alumni are working to diagnose complications from the virus , such as coagulopathies and cardiomyopathies , as well as providing routine diagnostic support .
Sinai Hospital of Baltimore ’ s Microbiology and Urinalysis Lab is overseen by MLS adjunct faculty member Christin Reuter , who graduated from the MLS program in 2008 . Reuter works with four other Stevenson alumni — Kari Ritenour ( Nickles ) ’ 13 , Gretchen ( Mattie ) Milchling ’ 16 , Destiny Robinson ’ 18 , and Karley Andrews ’ 19 — as part of a team that works with doctors and nurses via telemedicine to determine a patient ’ s need for COVID-19 testing . They are also helping set up specimen collection tents , safely and effectively processing thousands of samples and finding ways to process more patients with fewer materials . Reuter notes that the lab ’ s work has been thrust in the spotlight during COVID-19 . “ While we are ‘ behind the scenes ,’ the work we do is paramount in patient care ,” she explains . “ Almost 70 percent of patient-care decisions are driven by a patient ’ s laboratory results .”
Working with several MLS alums — and being one herself — has proven to Reuter that the Stevenson ’ s approach makes students career ready . “ The MLS program 100 percent prepares you for life post-graduation ,” she says . “ I was able to advance up the career ladder rather quickly due to opportunities that presented themselves and my career preparedness gained from Stevenson .”
Katherine Bratt , a 2012 MLS graduate , is working as a medical laboratory scientist in Sinai ’ s Special Chemistry / Immunology Department . Her job involves testing blood and body fluids to aid in the detection , diagnosis , and treatment of disease — and has gotten increasingly hands-on during the pandemic . “ We have added a COVID-19 IgG antibody test to our menu after I and many others at the hospital volunteered our blood for its validation ,” she explains . “ This test is a good indicator of past infection with the virus and can hopefully become a useful test in the future once a vaccine becomes available .”
Two more alumni working at Sinai Hospital are Mary Moorhouse , who earned her AAS in Medical Laboratory Technology in 2005 and a B . S . in Medical Laboratory Science in 2007 , and Mary Fischer , a 2017 MLS graduate . The two currently work in the hospital ’ s Blood Bank ( with Moorhouse serving as the manager of the bank at both Sinai and Northwest Hospitals ), which is part of an investigational study — along with the Mayo Clinic and the American Red Cross — on ways to utilize convalescent plasma
20 | VENTURES / WINTER 2020-2021