During my undergraduate studies, I took a course in medical sociology that gave me insight into the world of public health. The course dug into the history of healthcare and the social and cultural influences inherent in providing medical care. I decided to pursue a degree in public health after shadowing at a dental clinic in Brownsville, NY. The clinic had a lot of low-income patients without health insurance, many of whom did not have the knowledge or resources to properly take care of their oral health at home. These patients only came to the clinic when they were in an intense amount of pain, and often irreversible damage had occurred. This real-world experience exposed me to the disparities in oral health and made me want to learn how to alleviate this gap. 

I went into my undergrad unsure as to what career I wanted to pursue. I started premed, but I knew that I didn’t really want to be an MD. I wanted a career related to both science and health but didn’t know what that would look like outside of a clinical setting. In a microbiology class I learned about epidemiology and have been in love ever since. I have an MPH in epidemiology and am now pursuing a PhD in Environmental Sciences, as it is more in line with my research goals.