Throughout my undergraduate education I have put myself in situations which promote

both professional and personal growth. As I look back on my experiences, I realize the number

of competencies I have developed from my coursework and extracurricular activities. I am

realizing how important these competencies will be as I venture into the next phase of my

journey to become a physician scientist. In the following text, I will reflect on these experiences

and how they led to my current set of competencies, in addition to where I see myself

improving in the years to come.

The year of 2015 was a year of perseverance. It consisted of endless days filled with

lecture halls, volunteer work and lab coats. I enjoyed every minute of it and in retrospect, I

have truly learned a lot. Whether it was having to reteach myself algebra after a decade hiatus

in order to complete my physics requirements, or learning how to generate referrals at

Crossroad Health Center through NextGen software, 2015 was a continuous journey of

learning.

The time goes by so quickly, it's hard to keep up sometimes. Within a year of working in

the lab of Dr. James Wells at Cincinnati Childrens Hospital, I went from not knowing basic skills

like pipetting, to running self-designed experiments from beginning to end and presenting my

work nationally. As my project studying how mTOR plays a role in the development of

pancreatic islets came to an end, I transitioned into a new topic of study which I am very

excited about, enteroendocrine cell development. This aligns with my interest in nutrition and

metabolism and will hopefully lead to some interesting findings. My research experiences at
Cincinnati Childrens Hospital and through the Ronald E. McNair Program have greatly improved

my critical thinking skills, in addition to my oral and written communication skills.

In the world of service learning, my spare time was full of it. My participation with

Crossroad Health Center has been continuous since January 2015 and I was selected as an

executive board member in January 2016. My position as the Community Outreach Director

provided me the opportunity to learn about other community based Cincinnati organizations

and try to build a relationship with them that fosters collaboration. In addition, I was also

selected by the College of Allied Health Sciences to travel to Granada, Nicaragua on a service

learning trip. This was the highlight of my year and I gained many friends as well as memories. It

has ignited a desire to continue traveling through service learning programs and I hope to

participate in another soon. My volunteer work and service abroad has contributed to my

competencies in social responsibilities and collaborative team problem-solving.

The 2016 to 2017 year was just as fulfilling, and what a year it has been! I've just

finished off the year by submitting my applications for combined MD/PhD programs and I am

currently in the process of interviewing. This was probably the best way to conclude this

chapter. However, filling out the applications was a huge feat of its own. I believe my eyes are

permanently crossed from reading and rereading my personal statement and other essays.

Now, I can only sit and wait for the results to come through, and it starts all over again.

I know I said 2015 was the year of perseverance, but I may have spoken too soon. This

past year has been very similar to the year prior, only amplified. The research projects I started

last year reached their peak and recently ended with a publication in the journal of
Development, for which I am second author. I am fortunate that I started at the beginning of

the study and was involved in every step of the process, from planning the project and

collecting/analyzing data, to sharing our findings with the scientific community. These

experiences have helped me to discover my love for research and my desire to incorporate it

into a medical career.

The Fall and Spring semesters of this past year were filled with heavy courses. I took

several Medical Sciences courses through the UC College of Medicine, to include Medical

Microbiology, Molecular Genetics, and the 2-semester Biochemistry sequence. These were by

far the most challenging courses I have ever taken. In Molecular Genetics, I completed a paper

summarizing the mechanisms and current knowledge about the enzyme, Intestinal Alkaline

Phosphatase. In addition, I compiled and presented a case study regarding the Human

Papillomavirus for my Medical Microbiology course. These assignments greatly improved my

competency in integrating the knowledge I gained throughout the semester.

As my final undergraduate semester comes to an end, I find myself continuing to

strengthen my competencies. I recently finished administering a nutrition education program

for the Nutrition Education and Behavior Change course through the UC Nutrition Graduate

Program. In doing so, I gained more experience with presenting information to a diverse group

of individuals. This only emphasizes the fact that my life will be a continuous path of growth

and development. I plan to continue living with the mindset that there is always room for

growth and new things to learn.