I have always been interested in science. In high school the classes I enjoyed most were chemistry and biology, so when it came time to apply for colleges, I was looking at biochemistry programs. I have learned since then that biochemistry isn’t really just a mix of biology and chemistry, but I’ve come to love it all the same. I ended up at Northeastern University in Boston, where I’ve been exposed to many different research projects through various talks. During my first semester I took a Biological Inquiries class focused on genetics and genomics with the late Prof. Phyllis Strauss that opened my eyes to how scientific research was a complex web that was never truly finished.

In the spring of 2019, I started my first co-op experience (i.e., full-time, 6 month internship between semesters) at the Merck Exploratory Science Center in Cambridge, MA. There I worked on early research for a possible treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, research that I was very interested in due to family history. My role was to explore the functional role of non-coding RNAs in regulating epithelial barrier function and to uncover the underlying molecular mechanism using chemical biology tools. As my first true research experience, I gained a wide perspective on innovative scientific collaboration and the pharmaceutical research pipeline.

In the spring of 2020, I began my second co-op at Indigo Agriculture as a plant microbiologist. I wanted to try a different field in industry, and Indigo’s mission and research opportunities fascinated me. I was originally responsible for creating axenic cultures of mycorrhizal fungi in order to test the effects of mycorrhiza on plant growth, however the coronavirus pandemic cut that work short before I could finish. While working from home I instead contributed to a compound identification database for the nomination of microbes into our pipeline and to a citation database for genes already used in our nomination process. While I greatly enjoyed working with my colleagues, I decided that plant microbiology wasn’t for me.

After finishing my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry in May 2021, I started working as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Asthma Research Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. I set up and was the lead coordinator for the Investigating Dupilumab’s Effect in Asthma by genotype (IDEA) study, recruiting 18+ patients for the study. I was the secondary then lead cooordinator for the Severe Asthma Research Program 4 (SARP4), completing recruitment for the longitudinal study. I also had the opportunity to present original research at CHEST 2023 using data from the SARP3 study.

Through clinical research, I learned that I loved working with patients and teaching them more about their conditions and medications. After working with research participants and shadowing Physician Assistants, I decided to pursue a career as a Physician Assistant (PA). I finished my final prerequisite science classes at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences to improve my background knowledge in healthcare. I chose this professional path because I thrive in a problem solving and systems-based learning environment. I am excited about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in my journey to becoming a Physician Assistant at Wake Forest University and I am committed to making a positive impact on the lives of patients.