Alumni in the News

Amy Asakli-DaSilva ’10

Amy Asakli-DaSilva graduated from the Clinical Laboratory Science program in 2010. Despite the challenges and tumult of the early 2000s when she first enrolled—Amy's husband was on a twelve-month deployment with the Rhode Island National Guard during Operation Iraqi Freedom—she looks back fondly at her time at CCRI. At the time, Amy worked as a medical assistant in Rhode Island and wanted to advance her career. A beloved physician in the practice where she worked encouraged her to enroll in the Clinical Laboratory Science program, and she is so very glad she did.

“The CCRI program director, Maddie Josephs, was a fantastic leader and educator, and I still remember her guidance and expertise warmly to this day,” Amy states.

Over the years, Amy's degree has brought her a rewarding career in the clinical laboratory, where she works as a generalist in the departments of hematology, chemistry, and microbiology. Amy currently works at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River amongst a team of medical professionals that take pride in what they do. Having always had a deep love for all things science, Amy has not tired of her career choice yet!

“Each day brings a new finding, a new challenge, and a new sense of purpose while working as an integral part of the patient's diagnostic team. The science behind what we do as clinical laboratory technicians helps us piece together clinical evidence, symptoms, and assist the team in making diagnostic and treatment choices to care for patients.”

Drawing further on her education, experience, and deep love of science, Amy recently added a new endeavor to her career: as she is now a published science fiction author with The Wild Rose Press (TWRP) writing under the pen name AA DaSilva. When the pandemic hit, like most working in healthcare, Amy had an existential crisis. Life and the world became stranger than fiction, and her love for both science and writing ignited Amy's imagination during lockdown.

Amy previously had essays, poems, and patient educational materials published, but this time, she went all in—penning a 300-page novel that is equal parts romance and science fiction. Amy pitched it to a few agents and publishing houses, and to both her surprise and delight in October 2023 an acquisition editor at TWRP offered her a traditional publishing contract!

The past year has been quite a journey as Amy learned all that publishing entails, and after rounds of editing, proofreaders, marketing, and collaborating with her editor, Periphery is available at all major retailers worldwide. “Learning the publishing industry and honing my writing has been a wonderful adventure. It's a real-life plot twist going from working in the laboratory to penning fiction novels,” she states.

Fun fact: her novel Periphery is set right here in Rhode Island (in a fictionalized Newport).

Periphery is now a triple award-winning novel, receiving the Literary Titan Gold Award, securing first place in the Speak Up Talk Radio Firebird Awards, and is a finalist in the Chanticleer International Book Awards (Shelley Awards Division).

More information, including the book trailer and blurb, can be found at aadasilva.com.

Amy is excited to share where her career has taken her. She'll continue her job as a clinical laboratory technician, while writing what she loves, too. Book two in the Periphery series, titled The Bleed-Through Effect, is complete and forthcoming in 2025, and book three is actively underway! A new career path has opened, and Amy is excited to explore all the fantastic ways science enriches our lives, in both the real—and fictional—world. “Life can truly be stranger than fiction, and being able to escape into a great story is a joy I've indulged in my whole life. I'm honored to be able to write stories that others can escape into now, too,” she states.

Amy hopes her journey inspires others to know that sometimes dreams are realized while navigating through the dark, and that it's never too late to chase your dreams. Two children and over a decade later, the choice to pursue her degree opened more doors than she ever thought possible. The tagline of her book sums it up nicely: One choice can change everything.