About Me

While I think that people are drawn to numbers, drawn to opportunities that offer tangible fixes, much of the research I’ve taken part in is qualitative and more focused on the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of our participants. It's not just keeping track of how many times someone may miss their medication in a month but asking them why and trying to break down any barriers to care. The common thread throughout all of my undergraduate career, in class and in research, is that any issue that seems simple on the surface is usually an effect of a greater policy or system.

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The urge to help others is an all-encompassing feeling not exclusive to those seeking out a career in healthcare. The specificity of a career of scientific discovery, an opportunity to make an impact on a person’s day-to-day life while also shouldering the responsibility of their mortality is not an easy job, but it is the one I dream about. Having some clinical experience has provided me with a picture of what can be accomplished in patient-facing qualitative research and how much structural change makes an individual impact. As the healthcare industry continues to modernize and develop the technology it is imperative that we continue to focus on making the most simple and necessary aspects of care accessible to everyone. Not just in South Carolina, but in the United States and around the world.

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All of these passions have been fostered throughout explorations of my three Key Insights: Global Comparisons: Public Health Through an International Lens, Accessibility in the Modern Era, and Presenting as an Art. Accessibility has been an integral part of my research but also underscored in so many of the Public Health Classes I'm taking. Global Health has taken center stage in the time of Covid, but I believe that should be considered in developing any policy or perspective, especially when considering something like accessibility, for instance. In the scope of both of these topics, I've had the opportunity to present my research and experiences, at conferences but also in my time serving as an Ambassador for the Honors College. While I've always considered myself a decent public speaker, taking a course that required weekly speeches, and another that required a presentation on a semester-long case study ensured that I understood professional expectations of speaking about a topic.  These three concepts together I feel define my research, while also providing me with goals and steps forward in my professional career.