Biology, Public Policy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
I have a twin brother that goes to Chapel Hill!
Clad in a hazmat suit, I entered the PICU as an 11th-grade intern. The team announced: "age 9, ADHD, nonaccidental trauma." Watching the child wince and pull his hair, unease washed over me. Did I have the right to witness his pain? Did he have a voice in my presence? I recalled my helplessness when unknown doctors palpated my bare wounds. Since age two, I’ve endured eight cardiac arrests, nine heart surgeries, two traumatic brain injuries, and many more hospitalizations. With only 50 people diagnosed globally with Triadin Knockout Syndrome—most not surviving past childhood—I know it’s rare to be alive, let alone attend school. I am humbled to simply craft my own story.
My work is led by the fighter in me: whether starting a statewide disability advocacy project with the NC Department of Health in response to discrimination I experienced at school; becoming my own and others’ patient advocate; or investigating the link between economic indicators and blood lead poisoning levels in North Carolina’s children.
At Duke, I serve as an elected Senator for Equity and Outreach in Duke Student Government, am a data analyst for Meals on Wheels Durham with the Duke Impact Investing Group, and research 19th-century state-run medicine with the Digital Art History & Visual Culture Lab. I'm also actively involved in Business Oriented Women, Runway of Dreams, and the Science at the Public FOCUS Group.
Outside of college, I am a mentor for Duke Children’s Hospital’s ATLAS program for chronically ill youth. I’m most proud to serve as a Lived Experience Partner for the Children & Youth with Special Health Care Needs National Research Network. I was named a 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholar for my work in high school. Though I am not set on one career path, I am fired by the prospect of reforming healthcare systems: whether hospital infrastructure, policy, electronic record and data-transfer systems, or the legal aspects of medicine.
In my downtime, I love crafting (fiber arts, Legos), writing poetry and creative nonfiction, photography, spending time with family, and being my friends’ go-to news reporter. Currently, I’m picking up new hobbies like Mahjong and yoga!
SPIRE is a space to let go. Goats and pumpkins. Turtle necropsies by the sea. Off-key Bruno Mars karaoke. Bench painting in cozy jackets. The SPIRE community is a big hug. In The Cancer Journals (my go-to read this past year), Audre Lorde talks about feeling disconnected from her womanhood after losing her breast tissue. I don't have cancer, but I understand—my illness and the “keep pushing” mentality I adopted as a young child hindered my own capacity to truly feel both my own joy and pain very early on. But SPIRE—a community that embrace both aspiration and well-being in a collective—is a place where I can both grow and heal without the need to sacrifice any part of myself, and help other fellows do the same. SPIRE is a rooting force.
