Biology & Genetics
My favorite animal is a great white shark, and I have a huge love for shark-cage diving!!!!
I have always sought innovation through the intersection of science and research. The beginning of my profound love for science, numbers, and experiments began when I was eight, where I invented a Mosquito Trapping device to address the mosquito infestation in my humid Florida backyard. In ninth grade, I began manipulating the chemical composition of my slime from saline solutions to boric acids to provide the safest (and slime-iest!) product for my peers. A few years later, I am helping a national healthcare provider overhaul an unsuccessful transfer protocol to reduce bedside times for children in critical care. Looking back, I realize that experimenting with mosquitoes and other science experiments cultivated my current passion for connecting research findings and people. I am always looking for solutions, analyzing information all around me to find evidence, tell stories, or reveal what is hidden. That is what motivates and inspires me. I guess it’s fair to say that mosquitoes aren’t infesting my life anymore. Now it’s the idea that research can bring about meaningful change for others. My background in analytical research and science sparked my ambition to work in a biotech initiative focused on gene therapy to one day deliver meaningful, innovative healthcare solutions to help people live longer, healthier lives.
What truly makes Duke unique is its community. The warm and welcoming community at Duke has allowed me to foster new connections with such driven individuals that I feel reflect my social and academic lifestyle. Likewise, I love how heterogenous Duke is. We all have differing beliefs, hobbies, and opinions on many things, even ethnicity and background. But at the end of the day, I love how we all share a common objective in which we support each other to meet our goals. That's what Duke means to me.
