As an engineer who is passionate about human health, thinking about creative, accessible solutions to global health challenges has been a key piece of my development as a physician-scientist, and has remained a key driver of my career and interest. So much of creativity and ingenuity in my experience has stemmed from bold partnerships with people with different life experiences. Whether it was bringing speakers to campus with the Global Health Initiative, expanding the institutional partnership between University of Illinois and Njala University in Sierra Leone, or teaching high schoolers about how diverse perspectives are needed to solve global health challenges, I am excited to continue developing a deeper understanding of what healthy international and intercultural collaborations look like, and to foster those relationships so that together we can tackle the global health challenges of tomorrow.

Having served on the University Y Board of Governors since 2011, I have enjoyed working with the organization in a variety of capacities. From supporting and mentoring University Y groups working as student-activists to providing essential services to our immigrant populations to providing hundreds of thousands of dollars of scholarships and fellowships annually, my experiences with the Y have been some of the most formative of my adult life. If you want to know more about what we do and/or consider supporting that work, click here!

Emergent from my research in the lab, I thoroughly enjoyed a foray into early-stage startups and entrepreneurship. With what started as an entry to the Cozad New Ventures pitch competition with a friend on a whim, I had the opportunity to explore the world of commercialization through the NSF I-Corps program and the Illinois Corporate Startup Challenge, start a small company, and pitch in front of companies including Walgreens, Motorola Mobility and Molex. While eventually I had to make the tough decision to continue in my MD/PhD training, it was a wonderful experience and I look forward to being able to reenter the space in the future, and am excited to see where my licensed technology goes.

Life as an MD/PhD student has taught me that "life" can't be put off. Maintaining health and sanity is an important part of who I am! Whether hanging out with my family and friends, tending to our vegetable and native plants gardens, going for a run to clear my thoughts, or trying out some new recipes from Kenji Alt-Lopez' The Food Lab--maintaining a healthy work-life balance is a conscious and essential part of every day.

Initially contacted during my tenure as president of the local Engineers Without Borders chapter, Founder Paula Shirk was looking for some assistance with a specific engineering challenge: providing irrigation from shallow surface wells for farmers in rural Cambodia. After setting up and participating in a senior design project, I spent a month in Cambodia working with local engineers to develop a novel dual chamber, single-piston treadle pump, which was eventually patented. In between construction and testing, I learned a lot about how the languages of engineering and creativity are universal and cross-cultural, and was able to share some of my technical drawing and design skills. The organization has continued to flourish, and now has a number of novel engineering solutions developed by its team of engineers, winning multiple international awards for their innovation and resourcefulness.

One of the formative experiences of my time as an undergraduate student was working with a water supply and distribution project in rural Cameroon. Traveling to Ntisaw was my first time outside of the country, and the friends and lessons I gained there altered my personal and professional trajectories in ways that continue to manifest themselves. Aside from the engineering principles and practicalities of a catchment-based water system, I learned a lot about myself, the importance of reciprocity and equality in international partnerships, and the realities of our global society. While the project was completed a number of years ago, the chapter remains active and working on a number of projects.