By: Justin Lafleur, Lehigh Sports Communications
 
This past summer, a pair of rising Lehigh Athletics seniors jumped at an opportunity to learn from a Lehigh alum and expert in the healthcare field.
 
After the pandemic forced widespread shutdowns in March, Miranda Royds was on a women's soccer team meeting which included Lehigh soccer alum Cynthia Izuno Macri '79.
 
"We had a couple different alumnae pop on the Zoom call to talk to us about what they're doing," said Royds, a two-sport athlete in soccer and track and field. "Dr. Macri talked to us about EagleForce Health and what they do."
 
Macri mentioned that EagleForce Heath was working with healthcare software engineering.
 
"So I connected with Dr. Macri, mentioned I'm studying bioengineering and was super interested in the kind of work she does," said Royds.
 
"I asked if there was anything I could do to help."
 
The answer was a resounding yes.
 
Not only did Royds go on to intern at EagleForce Health, but so did rower Emma Gromacki.
 
"Originally, I was an Iacocca Intern so was supposed to be going abroad and work at the Luxenberg Institute of Health," said Gromacki, who is in the IDEAS program (with concentrations in computer science and neuroscience). "But obviously with COVID-19, we were not allowed to go abroad. My coach sent out an email from the soccer coach about Dr. Macri and EagleForce Heath."
 
EagleForce Heath has an app called MIMI-Rx, which pre-pandemic, was used to track things like immunizations.
 
"The app is now also used in a COVID-19 context in areas like symptom tracking, geospatial tracking and contact tracing," said Gromacki.
 
Royds and Gromacki served as public health analysts, which included work with the app.
 
"From our perspective as student-athletes returning to a university to play sports, we focused on how we could use the app to best fit our needs and other kinds of traits the software would need to work in a university setting," said Royds.
 
The type work that Royds was doing fit into her strengths.
 
"I'm actually not a very techy person," she said. "I'm an engineer, but not very good with all the computer stuff and coding. We used our platform as student-athletes to get perspective from other student-athletes and coaches."
 
Royds and Gromacki worked closely together, along with another student from George Washington University.
 
"Her scope was different, more in the realm of reopening college campuses," said Royds.
 
The internship was fully virtual, except Gromacki's first day in which she was allowed in the office.
 
"That day was honestly very transformative for me," she said. "I got to sit in with and talk to the CEO. Dr. Macri is the CMO, the chief medical officer. I talked with all these people high up in the company about how they attack health care problems."
 
Gromacki was intrigued by EagleForce Health's unique approach.
 
"They really want to empower the patient as opposed to the doctor knowing everything and telling you what to do," she said. "They do think differently, encouraging the patients to understand the importance of being actively engaged in their health."

Royds noticed the preventative approach as well.

 
"A lot of the health field is reactionary," she said. "You get sick, then you do this. You hurt your arm, then you do that. Working for EagleForce Health gave me such a different perspective because you feel one step ahead of the curve."
 
Being ahead of the curve could be applied to the COVID-19 pandemic as well.
 
"MIMI-Rx can be used a lot in everyday doctor's appointments as one place to keep all your medical records, but with COVID-19, there's symptom tracking, vaccine tracking, testing and all sorts of telehealth," said Royds. "COVID-19 opened up so many opportunities for this software that weren't even necessary before."
 
The app allows patients to self-monitor symptoms with things like temperature checks and oxygen saturation levels, which if changed, could trigger a diagnostic test like an X-ray, CAT scan or MRI. MIMI-Rx helps empower patients to take control of their health, manage their own risk of contracting COVID-19 and manage the risk of adverse outcomes should they contract the virus.
 
Something else about EagleForce Health which caught Gromacki's attention was the company's emphasis on the underserved community.
 
"One example is accommodating for people where English may be their second language," said Gromacki. "The app has more than a dozen different language translations. They also think about people who don't have access to a telephones, and think about all the little ways someone may not have good access to health care."
 
Gromacki wants to help that community. She is currently a co-captain of Lehigh TIDE (Tackling Inclusion, Diversity and Equity) and has a passion for helping (much like Macri).
 
Macri earned a military scholarship for medical school and went on to a long career as a Navy doctor.
 
Gromacki wants to follow in her footsteps.
 
"I was very inspired by Dr. Macri," said Gromacki. "The HPSP scholarship is exactly what I want to do; I'm not quite sure what branch yet, but my primary interests are in patients with traumatic injuries, particularly TBIs and PTSD.
 
"I'm in the process of applying to med school and after that, applying for the HPSP scholarship, which would put me as an officer in the military and to serve after medical school."
 
No surprise, Gromacki loves serving others.
 
"Everyone in medicine says they want to help people," she said. "I think the difference for me is less about helping people and more about empowering people, which ties into what I've learned within Lehigh Athletics (and at EagleForce Health). A good leader is one who not only can take other people along with them, but also empower change within others."
 
Gromacki admitted that empowering people is more sustainable.
 
"If you can change the perspective of a person and have a healthier attitude, that could lead to a longer-lasting helping affect," she said. "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."
 
That mindset ties in perfectly with EagleForce Health's philosophy. Gromacki certainly learned from the best in Dr. Macri, as did Royds.
 
"After Lehigh, I want to go to podiatry school," said Royds. "Having this experience has given me such a different lens on public health, which I want to base my career around."
 
Even prior to the summer, Royds and Gromacki's careers were on the right track, but EagleForce Health and Dr. Macri helped them mold their paths moving forward.
 
"We became familiar with the software and presented it to administration at Lehigh University, along with Montgomery County – the largest county in Maryland," said Royds. "Many of the groups we pitched to have been able to use this software.
 
Gromacki even had a first-hand experience with the app this summer.
 
"I got bronchitis, but had symptoms of COVID-19, so was checking with the app," she said. "There's a pulse oximeter and a thermometer. If someone has diabetes, there's a blood sugar metrics. You take your metrics every day, put them in the app and the app uses AI (artificial intelligence) to basically calculate your risk for COVID-19."
 
Gromacki completed research on the comorbidity of diabetes and COVID-19, while Royds researched COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
 
It was a worthwhile experience all the way around, both individually and collectively. Royds and Gromacki also got closer as friends in the process.
 
"I'm a co-captain for SAM (Student-Athlete Mentors) and Emma is a co-captain for TIDE," said Royds. "The different engagement groups meet regularly and over the summer, we touched base with the different groups about the software to gain many different perspectives.
 
"It was great to work together. We became great friends."
 
There's great support between Royds and Gromacki, along with the people they met along the way, most notably Dr. Macri.
 
"A lot of students know when they come into school that med school is exactly what they want to do, but I decided to apply fairly late," said Gromacki. "I'm really thankful I had this experience. I feel like I have a lifelong support system. My internship is done, but Dr. Macri and I stay in touch."
 
As Macri said, "I look at these young people and am so inspired by them. Everything we did 40 years ago (helping jumpstart women's athletics at Lehigh, specifically soccer) was worth it because look at them now. They're really incredibly gifted women."
 
These women found themselves with a valuable opportunity because of their willingness to learn and grow.
 
"A lot of things are shut down or not happening because of the pandemic, so I try to take advantage of every opportunity," said Royds. "This is the year of yes because who knows how an opportunity will impact your life and who knows the next one you'll get. It was great to gain unique perspectives from the field of medicine."
 
The power of yes led Royds and Gromacki to an experience that will stick with them for a long time.