Maj. Amanda Roth is passionate about operational health IT

Maj. Amanda Roth, an assistant product manager for Operational Medicine Information Systems — Army (OMIS-A), is passionate about the Army’s mission to modernize operational health information technology solutions for deployed Soldiers.

Roth describes OMIS-A as a “small but mighty” program. “We are what millennials would call a niche or boutique acquisition program of record,” Roth said. “OMIS-A is more than just an electronic health record. It supports medical command and control and medical situational awareness so commanders can execute their missions. As we add more capabilities to OMIS-A, we are going to help keep Soldiers — as patients while they’re receiving healthcare for injuries — safe. Commanders will use OMIS-A to understand where their medical assets are and what hospitals or battalion aid stations they can send people to.”

Roth is also passionate about infectious diseases. She earned a doctorate in medical microbiology and immunology and is a 71A Army microbiologist. In 2017, she was the first scientist accepted into the Army Medical Department’s Program Management Acquisition internship program. Following a deployment to U.S. Army Central Command, her Army career took her to Kisumu, Kenya, where she oversaw the execution of more than $25 million in research, development and surveillance activities of infectious diseases of military relevance. 

An engaged mentor, Roth volunteers extensively in both the 71A and 8X medical acquisition communities and recently completed collateral duties as the graduate education manager for the former and the deputy 8X consultant for Engineering and Technical Management to the Office of the Surgeon General for the latter. 

Roth, today’s #PEOEISTeammateTuesday, answered questions about her career and life. 

What was your first job?
My first job was as a cashier at a Chinese restaurant in Rosemount, Minnesota. I loved that job. I was 14 years old, and it was my first experience engaging customers. I got a free meal during every shift I worked. That fed — no pun intended — my lifelong love for Chinese food.

For most of my life, I’ve juggled two and sometimes three jobs at one time. I had to hustle to make sure that I could get what I needed. 

What inspired you to join the Air Force?
I moved to California when I was 19 years old. I had no plan and got poor really fast. The Air Force recruiter had a good hook, and it was a fast way to stabilize my finances. 

The Army and the Air Force have given me so many opportunities, and I can only hope that I have done well by them and given more than I've taken.

Name one thing you can't do without in a day.
Coffee. If I do not have coffee, I am not my best self. I drink espresso black. 

What can someone learn from your daily routine?
Good planning makes my day go smoothly. I have a very detailed, color-coded calendar that has to be doubly transcribed because Outlook doesn't sync with Google Calendar. I'm a single mom of two children and a cat I adopted in Kenya. I have hobbies that I'm active in. I work a lot. For everything to run smoothly I need to know what's going on. And I need my life stakeholders to know what's going on. It’s organized over here.

What are your hobbies?
I am in a competitive karaoke league. Our new season just started. We did not win our round last week, but we had a lot of fun. My duties as a scientist and acquisition professional don’t generally scratch my itch to be creative.  

Karaoke is a team-oriented hobby. You work together to brainstorm ideas you execute. You get to be a little wild and crazy on the stage for three minutes. And that's joyful. I think everybody needs an outlet like that to complement their life. You can be as good as you want professionally, but if you don't have something that you find joy in that's not work, life is a little bit tougher.

What is something you learned the hard way?
I direct commissioned into the Army as a captain, I did not have lieutenant years. I didn’t get a grace period to make mistakes as a company-grade officer. Those lieutenant years enable leaders to cut their teeth because great mentors can show you the way, allow you to make mistakes and get you back on track quickly. 

I made a lot of mistakes as a captain. I was a little quick to try to force a solution onto a team or organization. I learned a lot after spending 14 years in the military, including 11 years with the Army. 

The Army doesn’t short me on leadership training. I’ve learned a lot. Positional authority alone, rank alone, yelling the loudest alone is not what achieves the mission. You can’t achieve the mission without help. I learned to read the room and figure out how to best leverage people to move forward together. 

Name one thing that can instantly make your day better.
One thing that instantly makes my day better is any kind of positive feedback from a team member or stakeholder. Today, we are all trying to be more emotionally intelligent. We are all trying to be good team members. But as consumers in American society, we are quick to criticize and fill out a survey if our experience was bad. And we don't do it enough when things are good, when somebody really goes the extra mile. We don’t tell them, “Thank you so much — it made a big difference in my day.” It might cross our minds, but we don't put pen to paper or take a time out to text or call. A kind word and virtual pat on the back go a long way.

What have you been working on recently that you're proud of?
I got the opportunity to be part of the termination of Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4), a hardware-centric program, and the stand up of OMIS-A — one of the Army’s first programs to be approved to use the Software Acquisition Pathway. 

OMIS-A Product Lead Steve Reichard is a calm, cool cucumber. I have benefited from his example and model his leadership style. 

What do you enjoy doing when you're not working?
I really like cooking. I've got two kids. My daughter is home for summer vacation from American University. My son is going to be a senior in high school. I like doing family dinners and hanging out with my children. They are delightful, kind and decent citizens.

I also like spending time with my friends. We enjoy seeing live music and plays. Washington, D.C., is an awesome place to live. There are so many cultural activities — and a lot of them are free.

Do you have any book recommendations?
I highly recommend “Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Society,” by Jared Diamond. And it's not just because it won a Pulitzer. As a microbiologist, I am a huge fan of anything that educates people about the impact of microbes over the course of human history and today. It’s a giant book, but there are a lot of pictures. 

Why have you been successful in your career?
I never assume that my perspective is the right one. It's a perspective. There’s a lot I don’t know. 

When you join an organization like OMIS-A, everybody knows something you don't. If you're not willing to learn from them, it's a harder road to hoe.

What’s the best advice you received?
Listen more and talk less. I'm extroverted. I'm a chatty Cathy. I really like talking. Good leaders listen and incorporate other perspectives and information into the plan. I can't do that last part if I didn't hear them. 

Steve, OMIS-A’s leader, is a great listener. In meetings, he’ll ask every person in the room what they think, and I really love that.

What's your proudest moment?
My daughter’s graduation from high school. She’s an excellent student. As a single parent, raising a bright, young woman with a positive outlook is hard. Parenting is hard. You can try to influence them to become the best person they can be, but you can’t make them. 

How would you like to be remembered?
I'd like to be remembered as somebody who was passionate about the operational health IT mission, tried really hard and put in the work.