“People may never know who you are or who your team is or what this research was about, but in some way they’re benefiting. And that’s a legacy in and of itself.”

I've always really liked research. In the beginning, I wanted to go into medical school, but in some ways, I was unhappy going through that process. So I slowly walked away from that. I actually even did the MCAT and realized I didn’t want to go down that route. 

One of my professors told me about public health. Once I started my Masters, my school was very research focused. And from there, I realized that I really enjoyed managing a project, understanding the ideas behind it, and finding something new that would hopefully help people. And a lot of our research was in minority communities who don't always gain access to research findings. So that was really meaningful for me as well.

One of the most important things I’ve done was be a project manager for a mentoring program for kids. Research, in my experience, tends to be a little bit unknown or inaccessible, to communities that are not well off. So in that program we really worked with students who had initiative, who had drive. Maybe their grades weren't the greatest, but they wanted to make something of themselves and they needed extra support. We had a program where we could pay them, we could train them, and we could support them. It was such an amazing experience. It taught me a lot about myself, but it also connected me with individuals that I don't know if I would ever have connected with. They were grad students and undergrads, and they’ve now all blossomed in their own way.  

The bell curve is so important in public health because it really exemplifies what we're talking about. You're going to have those people who are really sick and on one extreme and people who are super healthy on the other extreme, but the majority fall somewhere in the middle. And that's our goal. That's really cool because what we do is designed to help as many people as possible. To me that's inspiring. People may never know who you are or who your team is or what this research was about, but in some way they're benefiting. And that's a legacy in and of itself.