About me

I was born/grew up in: San Diego, California, USA

I now live in: Vancouver, BC, Canada

I completed my training/education at: I completed both my Masters and B.A at The George Washington University

What I do at work

I currently work at the University of British Columbia as a research coordinator on a team that does behavior research in public health. My position consists of managing research studies from start to finish. This includes the proposal, study design, recruitment, data analysis & interpretation, and publication. I love my job because I am always working on several studies. This means that every day is different and exciting! My job also requires a lot of outside collaboration with patients and partners outside of my day to day team. To be successful in this position you will need organizational & writing skills, some knowledge of statistics, and a lot of creativity.

I was always afraid of math and science in high school. Working in public health has shown me that there are ways to develop and apply these skills in ways that interest me beyond the basic courses taught.  

My career path is

I knew going into college that I wanted to complete a Masters degree in Public Health (MPH). I completed my BA in international affairs with a focus on global health and sub-Saharan Africa. This gave me a good foundation for my MPH. Interning was very common where I went to college and I interned at different women’s and global health organizations. This gave me a lot of experience and insight into what I liked and did not like. I did take a year off between college and grads school to do some traveling, which I would recommend to anyone.  Check my LinkedIn profile for more information.

I am motivated by

My work is very rewarding because the research that I do has the ability to influence health policy and the way healthcare is conducted. I love analyzing the data from our study and finding a way to create the most impact with the data collected. I also work with a lot of students and I love seeing them become interested in research. There is a lot of creativity and problem solving in my job and I really enjoy working through problems with them.

How I affect people’s lives

I work in public health, so my goal is to improve the healthcare of everyone around me. The results of my research have the ability to create policy change. On my team we are often wondering how we can make people’s lives better through our research and actions. It is also very exciting to see other researchers cite your work in their own studies.

Outside of work I

I like to be outside a lot. In the summers you can usually find me hiking, backpacking, and riding my bike.  I also enjoy cooking and knitting as well to help me relax.

My advice to others

Take some courses that you normally would not be interested in. I always thought that I hated statistics, but once I applied to healthcare I just realized that it was not being used in a manner that interested me.