The steroid detective

Other than the occasional idiot who tries to recreate the gold medal long jump in his driveway, Olympic years don’t necessarily equate to more work for the average doctor. But then, Dr. Tracie Parish, assistant professor of kinesiology at Southeastern Louisiana University, is no ordinary M.D.

Parish serves as a doping control officer for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency—the only one who lives in Louisiana. She works secretively to administer blood tests to athletes training for the Olympic, Pan American, and Paralympic games. The work is so sensitive that Parish’s contract bars her from giving interviews about doping control.

But local Olympic swimming hopeful Jayme Cramer (read about him in this month’s Signature, page 71), says that between USADA and two international groups, he gets tested for illegal substances every month. Nationwide the USADA conducted 7,801 drug tests in 2007.

“Integrity is of the utmost importance in determining a candidate’s fitness for serving USADA,” says Carla O’Connell, communications director for USADA.