I’m a second year Master of Public Health Student, with a concentration in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and entering my last semester this summer. As part of the Public Health Practice and Research Course offered by USC, I’ll be using the CenHealth Travel Award Scholarship to travel to Panama City for two weeks to work with public health officials, community health leaders, and USC faculty to develop an intervention that addresses vector-borne diseases based on formative and evidence-based research.

I graduated from California State University, Northridge with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and I have a background in education. In my time at USC, I’ve also had the opportunity to do research focused on virology and environmental health in Barcelona, Spain. After graduation, I plan to use my education and experience to help increase the need for research regarding problematic viral and bacterial diseases for international communities in need.