I gained an interest in medicine because of my mother. She is a nurse and despite having to often work throughout my childhood, she did her best to raise me and show me a good example of living. Her passion for medicine and the field sparked my interest from a young age. Admittedly at first it was more of a fleeting interest but as I grew, and pondered what do I want to do with my life the more I wanted to do a job that I will know I have made some difference.
I had the opportunity to spend some time in the Philippines for two years. While there I saw that the level of comfort, health, and well being is on an entirely different level than what we enjoy in America. However the people are happy, and find this joy in simply being kind, friendly, and helpful to those around them. This was a special day that I still remember where I realized that I want to find this kind of happiness from simply being there and doing my best. At the end of the day I want to be happy in knowing that I did what I could for those I could.
I was blessed with the opportunity to attend school here at BYU-Idaho primarily because of the instructors here. Since this school is a teaching university primarily, the professors that they employ here are truly dedicated to instructing the students, and truly care. But even more than that I have had the chance to sit one on one with many of them and discuss what options were even out there in the medical field. Often in the biology program the only options that are discussed are either dental, MD, or PA. However when meeting one on one with my instructors I was able to discover many other job opportunities and found my way to the field of cardiovascular perfusion.
Here in my undergraduate program I was able to work for the last three years as the team lead for a research project studying neuron migration in rat pups. During this time I was in charge of instructing others in care of the animals and lab skills, supervising the experiments, and doing much of the work myself. This unique opportunity taught me how to be not only a leader, but also how to be part of a team under my principle investigator and with my fellow students. This gave me a unique look into science that many students are only taught such as the scientific process and presenting to other scientists which I have had the chance to do.
Now here at this company I aim to bring forth these skills and passions I have developed and try to share what knowledge I have to others. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching and tutoring while I attended school here and I am excited and blessed to have the opportunity to do so once more on this new platform.