BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—Incoming Mayor Nina Rodenroth spoke to the Keystone Heights Rotary Club on Wednesday, April 5, discussing her background and approach to leading the city.
Rodenroth told the civic group that she got into the field of histology: the study of the microscopic structure of tissues, while looking for a summer job between school years.
During her 26-year career looking through microscopes, she analyzed tissue samples at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, where she worked beside the man who discovered Zaire Ebola.
While at the CDC, she helped uncover the first human-to-human transfer of rabies.
“This 63-year-old lady received a corneal transplant at the NIH in Bethesda,” she said. “Upon completion of the surgery, she went into a coma on the table. It turns out that 30 days later, she dies. So, they sent me her brain to my lab in Atlanta.”
Rodenroth said she and her team dissected the organ and found a tiny spot of what they call inclusion bodies.
“Through light microscopy and processing, we found this,” she said, pointing to an image from her projector. “That’s rabies.”
Rodenroth added that through further investigation, authorities found that the cornea donor was an asymptomatic carrier of rabies.
“Back then, they did not do any viral studies on you prior to surgeries,” she said. “Now they do viral studies on that donor prior to any transplant.”
Rodenroth, who will take office on April 12, said the skills she learned during the second half of her career: 26 years working for Abbott Laboratories, will help her lead the city. In that sales and training role, she interacted with executives and observed many examples of leadership.
