Paddling with Purpose: A Microbiologist's Journey Beyond the Lab

For Hannah Romeo, a Sr. Microbiologist at Charles River’s Charleston site, the Dragon Boat Festival started as a team-building event but has become much more personal

This past May marked Hannah’s third time paddling with the Charles River Dragons, and her first as team captain. Under her leadership, the group placed fourth in its division out of over 20 teams. More importantly for Hannah, they paddled not just as colleagues, but as a unified force supporting cancer survivorship and public health.

“A key theme I noticed this year was camaraderie,” Hannah shared. “All the people on our team have various backgrounds and different roles at the Charleston site, but they come together and compete and support each other for this amazing cause.”

What sets Charleston’s involvement apart is how deeply it connects to Charles River’s mission: Together, We Create Healthier Lives. Dragon Boat Charleston, the local nonprofit behind the event, supports cancer survivors and their allies through community paddling and wellness programming.

The organization is fully funded by donations, making community support crucial to its continued success. The nonprofit is also open to allies, not just those with a diagnosis—an inclusivity that deeply resonates with Hannah, whose own family includes both cancer survivors and loved ones lost to the disease.

After the festival, she took her commitment a step further, transitioning from tournament team captain for Charles River to an active member of Dragon Boat Charleston, the cancer survivorship community team that competes year-round in other races.

“Less than a week after this past May’s festival ended, I made the jump, and I officially joined Dragon Boat Charleston as a supporter,” added Hannah.

Hannah’s role at Charles River centers around public safety—she validates methods that ensure pharmaceutical and consumer products are tested appropriately and released safely to the market. Competing alongside cancer survivors and allies at a national level reinforces for her the real-world impact of that work. Being immersed in a cause so closely tied to survivorship reminds her that every method she validates could affect someone’s treatment outcome, and that’s what deepens her sense of purpose in the lab.

“Knowing my work directly impacts the lives of patients, it gives me a greater purpose. And because of that, I look forward to waking up every day. . . it’s something that’s personal,” said Hannah.

The Charleston site has been involved in the festival since 2022, and Charles River serves as a proud sponsor. In 2022, the site even produced a short video capturing the team’s spirit and impact at the event—you can watch it here. But this event is not just about showing up on race day. It’s about supporting the cause, the community, and each other year-round. “We don’t compete against cancer survivors; we compete with cancer survivors. We never lose sight of why we are there,” said Hannah.

Currently, Hannah is preparing to race at the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in Atlanta, a national-level competition that draws dozens of teams from across the U.S and thousands of spectators.
For her, racing beside survivors and supporters at that scale is more than a sport—it’s a reminder of who she’s working for. She encourages other Charles River sites to find their own way to engage in Charles River’s purpose outside of their day-to-day jobs: “It always puts things into perspective for you, whenever you see who your work is directly impacting”.

Parker Daniel interned this summer with Charles River’s communications department. The rising high school senior is interested in a career in business but nonetheless enjoyed his writing experience with Charles River.