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Twin CU Boulder graduates, lab scientists, crucial to battling COVID-19

Nobody was particularly surprised when the Faliano twins, Cara and Amy, both decided to go into science. After all, they鈥檇 both been fascinated with science while growing up in northwest Denver, taking books out of the library on astronomy, dinosaurs, meteorology鈥攜ou name it. They even dressed up as scientists for Halloween.

鈥淲e went through a real hard meteorology phase,鈥� Cara says. 鈥淲e spent a whole summer watching the Weather Channel.鈥�

It also didn鈥檛 really shock anyone that after graduating from Denver East High School, these first-generation college students chose the University of Colorado Boulder, the state鈥檚 flagship school.

鈥淲e were excited to go to CU Boulder,鈥� says Amy Faliano Hamill, now married. 鈥淏esides good academics, we loved the sports teams. We never missed a football game.鈥�

Then the sisters each decided to major in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology鈥攕ensing a theme yet?鈥攖hough Cara admits she 鈥渏ust couldn鈥檛 let the weather go,鈥� and minored in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

After graduating in 2011, the sisters Faliano both decided to become certified through the at Denver鈥檚 Metropolitan State University while working at the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.听

Their first week in the certification program, they found themselves on the front lines of one of the state鈥檚 most traumatic incidents in recent memory.

鈥淲e got a crash course in medical laboratory science when we were called in to the hospital the night of the Aurora theater shooting,鈥� Cara recalls. As lab assistants, they helped prepare blood products for some of the victims.

Some eight years later, the sisters are on the front lines again, doing their part in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Cara is coordinator of laboratory safety for the Metro Denver region of UCHealth, while Amy is medical laboratory scientist lead at Highlands Ranch Hospital, part of the UCHealth system.

Specifically, Amy validated, trained and wrote the procedures for all of the Polymerase chain reaction testing at her hospital, while Cara handled logistics and wrote laboratory guidance at hers.

鈥淚t was quite the whirlwind in the medical field, trying to figure out how to deal with the pandemic,鈥� Amy says. 鈥淢y hospital had to bring up testing really quickly. My role was to validate testing鈥濃�攅ssentially, ensuring that tests would meets the needs of patients and medical staff鈥斺�渁nd training staff how to do it.鈥�

Cara鈥檚 role has been more administrative, but no less critical. She鈥檚 had to juggle countless tasks, from keeping up with rapidly shifting testing protocols (for example, tests were first being sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, then to a state agency) to creating procedures to keep staff safe.

鈥淚 was filling in a lot of holes,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 set up drive-through swab clinics and was in charge of the entire supply of swabs at a time when supply chains have been a huge issue.鈥�

Despite working at different labs, the sisters see themselves as collaborating from afar.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful partnership. Because Cara is at an academic hospital, her procedures help guide me at my community hospital,鈥� Amy says. 鈥淲e each get to see things from both sides and collaborate on how to handle the pandemic so that everyone gets the best care.鈥�

Like countless thousands of health care workers around the country, the sisters have been working exceedingly long, hard hours to keep up with the needs of patients and staff, at times working for 24 hours straight, late nights and lots of weekends.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been three months of constant running, constant changes,鈥� Cara says. 鈥淓verything always needed to happen yesterday. But we鈥檝e done great.鈥�

Despite concerns over a recent surge of COVID-19 infections in some states, the ongoing threat and death toll, the sisters see a small silver lining for their critically important, but seldom recognized, health-care field.

鈥淢ost people take testing for granted and never think about the people behind the tests,鈥� Cara says. 鈥淚f there is a good thing to come from this pandemic, it鈥檚 that it鈥檚 drawing attention to this career field.鈥�

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to go to medical school or nursing school to be able to use your science education in health care,鈥� Amy says.

Both sisters agree that their rigorous education in MCDB at CU Boulder has been invaluable to them in the current crisis and their careers in general.

鈥淭he classes we took at CU taught us the next level of critical thinking,鈥� Amy says. 鈥淭he tests were really hard, and by the end, we knew that every test was going to have a curveball to teach you how to dig deeper for the answer.鈥�

鈥淎t CU, we were taught not to just accept things as they are. We were taught to ask questions and apply what you learn,鈥� Cara says. 鈥淪cience isn鈥檛 black and white, and the people who do best are those who can think and apply it to this thing they鈥檝e never seen before.鈥�