Ask Mahitha Thammareddy what drove her toward a career in engineering for healthcare, and her answer is simple: "I wanted to make a meaningful impact on human life."
Now, having had a direct hand in developing rapid diagnostic tests, she's done that. Thammareddy has helped to engineer a roster of rapid diagnostic instruments for infectious diseases — including the multi-assayÌý ²¹²Ô»åÌýID NOWÌý platforms for flu, strep and more. In 2020, she and her colleagues did the remarkable: They fast-tracked a year-long process into 30 days when building a 15-minute test for COVID-19.
Mahitha Thammareddy, Head of Cloud and Systems Engineering in ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ Rapid Diagnostics
But in all the innovations she's helped make happen, it wasn't the promise of awards or accolades that kept her going. It's been that guiding mantra, straight from the start: Make an impact. For her, an engineering career in healthcare has helped mobilize that mantra into a path she's proud of — and now, she's sharing what she's learned.
Doing Work That Matters
As a young girl, Thammareddy thought she might be a doctor someday — but after one glance at the anatomy section in a medical science fair, her plans shifted. The blood and gore of medicine wasn't quite her calling, but then she realized, doctors need tools, and she had the technical prowess to develop them. MD or not, she could still help improve lives.
After completing her Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University, Thammareddy began working in medical device engineering roles — eventually taking a job at ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ Rapid Diagnostics in 2018 as associate director of systems and test engineering. In that position, which she held for her first two years at ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ, Thammareddy helped define, integrate and test rapid diagnostic instruments. "I was mainly trying to figure out how we could get better and more efficient, making sure that all the different pieces integrated together for a safe and high-quality product," she said.
Initially, the role involved ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ's rapid diagnostic test platforms ID NOW and DIGIVAL — but as the COVID-19 pandemic evolved, it became clear early on that she'd be needed for a COVID-19 test.
"In February 2020, we learned that we were going to start working on a COVID-19 test to add to our ID NOW software," Thammareddy said. "Typically, our development cycles to add a new assay take about 12 to 18 months because of the lead times of developing the assays and then the clinical trials. We were given a time frame of one month — it was unprecedented."
Since then, millions of people have benefited from ºù«ÍÞÊÓƵ's ID NOW COVID-19 rapid diagnostic test — which has helped healthcare workers manage, and epidemiologists track, the pandemic's transmission.
"That was a very humbling experience, especially because one day I was talking to my daughter, who was 5 at the time," she said. "I told her I was sorry that I hadn't been able to spend a lot of time with her over the past few weeks. And she just said, 'It's OK. I know you worked on a COVID test that helped people.' That was the biggest reward I could have."
The Importance of Skill-Building
In October 2020, Thammareddy embarked on a new role to head the cloud and systems engineering teams, where she help
