Dr. Colleen Kraft is an Associate Professor
in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine as well as the
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. As a practicing
physician at Emory Hospital and researcher at Clinical Virology Research
Laboratory, she has constantly been proven as a source of knowledge during both
the Ebola virus outbreak and COVID-19 pandemic. In February, she has been
appointed to Governor Brian Kemp’s Coronavirus Task Force and serves as an
advocate for the prevention of the spread of the disease.
Could you talk about your background and how
you have come to enter your profession?
I have always been
interested in the health sciences, so I pursued Biology in college and then was
accepted to a Ph/D, MD, and a Master of Public Health program as a college
senior because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I knew that I really liked
research, but I didn’t know if I wanted to see patients or not.
So, talking about that, previously you have
touched on your passion for microbiology. How have your past experiences
inspired you to pursue your current career and are you still able to practice
that in your everyday work?
I ended up rounding
in the Microbiology Laboratory as an Infectious Disease Fellow and that’s where
I fell in love with the clinical laboratory because of the very structured,
regulated environment. You are central to patient care with diagnostics. I decided to apply to a medical Microbiology
Fellowship after my Infectious Disease Fellowship. During the pandemic, I’ve
been working on the healthcare samples 7 days a week and figuring out a process
for how we prioritize test for COVID-19, and I enjoy that!
What excites you the most about your career?
I was drawn to it
because I like service to my fellow humankind; but, especially service in the
way of getting the best diagnosis for the patient and being a liaison between
the clinical and laboratory realms. That’s my happy place. Being a translator
for the laboratory to understand why clinicians are asking for certain things
and then allowing clinicians to learn about the laboratory. It’s not just a
result in the chart. There is a lot of thinking and regulation that goes behind
it. We do Monday through Friday microbiology rounds with the clinical teams to
try and teach this- making them better doctors and diagnosticians as future
practitioners
That’s so cool that you’re able to practice something
you’re passionate about every day with your job! Speaking of your appointment
to the Task Force for COVID-19, how has that experience compared to your time
spent advising and studying during the Ebola crisis?
During the Ebola
crisis, I was a clinician and I did a lot of clinical care and then tried to
build some research off of that. The interesting thing about this time is with
COVID-19, I have had the opportunity to participate in political and advocacy
work, which I really enjoy a lot!
It’s hard because I
think we’re struggling a lot in our country with this whole idea of altruism
and resources. It’s been a long time since many of us have ever experienced
scarcity, like for our parents and grandparents that may have been a part of
their lives, but when we talk about limited resources, I think the thing you
always have to remember is that we have to prioritize the resources. A lot of
people when I have answered some journalistic questions ask about the
possibility of rationing these tests. But, it’s not really rationing it’s
called prioritization. We don’t have tests for everybody. So, who is the most
important group who needs to be tested? I think that when there's scarcity it
always goes into public health. Right? And that’s causing a lot of friction and
a lot of problems. So, it’s hard for people who see or read and say, “We need
to do XYZ,” but when it comes to them, they don’t feel that way. I feel like
that’s a big tug right now - this whole idea of scarcity versus prioritization
is really difficult.
Do you think your background helps you take
on this role as devil’s advocate? For example, you’re able to say as much as
physicians wish they could test their patient... it's just not feasible. Do you
see that this is helping you to see the situation for what it is as opposed to
what many would like it to be?
It’s been
interesting to have healthcare system clinical leadership in something that
seems very mundane. Laboratory samples, not everyone finds that interesting;
but, I’ve spent the last ten days sorting them making sure we’re putting the
right people first and dealing with the issues of people wanting their stuff to
be tested. So, we may put yours on, but who is getting kicked off? I’ve felt a
lot of responsibility about making those decisions. It seems very mundane, but
I’ve learned about myself in this process. We have got to have a gatekeeper
until we have testing for everybody, which we will!
What
or who has inspired you to pursue your passion?
My first mentor
that helped me the most at Emory is Dr. Angela Caliendo. She was also a Ph/D
laboratorian and did clinical laboratory leadership. The way she helped me was
that she could see where I was struggling, and she actually helped me overcome
my individual issues. For example, I just had a hard time staying on task for
writing so she would just meet with me every week to force me to get my work
done. So, instead of someone being sort of judgmental and saying, “Oh you’re
bad at that,” I think having someone that is willing to invest in you and see
you for all you are and still accept you is important. That was a big push for
me to gain self-confidence.
So, it seems that you found your niche a bit
later in your academic career and life soon followed suit. Do you have any
advice for pre-health students who are unsure about what they want to do in the
future or have yet to find their niche/what they’re passionate about?
I have not had a
traditional career. There’s that whole idea that you study under somebody and
you become independent, but that never worked very well for me. I guess just
being true to what you really like rather than succumbing to peer-pressure is
really important. There’s a lot of pressure in academics that you have to be
well-funded and you sort of have this very narrow pathway that makes you
excellent. I’m trying to do other things and I don’t feel like I fall into that
mold. But, I’m very happy doing what I’m doing! Like, even for the Match
process, I only ranked one place for residency when I was dating, my husband,
Andrew. If I had not matched in that one place,
I would have figured it out—but I put what I thought was my priority
first, realizing I can be resourceful I think resourcefulness is really
important, but I also think loving what you do is key. Like there are a lot of
people that I am working with now that are totally freaked out and cannot see
their way out of this COVID-19 thing. But, we will figure it out and things
will be okay on the other side. You learn from these types of experiences and
grow.
