Emily Cassidy, Molecular Research Lab Manager Emily Cassidy’s career path using her degrees in veterinary technology and animal science hit an unexpected roadblock when she made an unfortunate discovery: she was highly allergic to animals with fur. Her career took a few turns – she started in a Molecular genetics lab at the University of Notre Dame, was a sales rep for a Veterinary Supply company, and for many years she worked with aquatic animals (no fur!) and helped developed cutting-edge housing/breeding and filtrations systems still used across the United States and Canada today. Upon relocating to Winston Salem seven years ago, she went back to a lab setting at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist where she works with breast cancer cells that metastasize to the brain. She manages the lab and helps in the testing of therapeutics to mitigate signaling factors to prevent or treat metastasis. When Emily is out of the lab, though, her attention turns back to animals, not the treating of them, but now in the drawing and painting of dogs, cats, tigers and more. She recently began this creative chapter and is already an award-winning artist who works in colored pencils and pastels to create amazingly life-like images of the animals she still loves, despite her allergies. She is also a talented vocalist: a member of the Winston Salem Symphony Chorus, a cantor/soloist at Holy Family Catholic church, has had her own jazz band and has recorded both sacred and jazz cds. She’s often asked to sing at weddings and at funerals, the latter a request she is especially grateful to do. “I feel it’s a calling to honor the person who’s passed,” she says. As she looks to retirement, it’s animals she turns to once again. “I look forward to more pet commissions,” she says, keenly aware how a rewarding career has come full circle.
