B.S. Human Biology, B.S. Neuroscience, B.A. English, 2012

Having graduated with three degrees—in English, Neuroscience, and Human Biology—I knew that my interests were varied. Rather than jump immediately towards medical school, I applied for the Midwestern Alliance for Healthcare Education (MAHE) program, and was accepted as a research fellow at Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a healthcare network comprised of 8 hospitals.

Our research concerned telemedicine, specifically iPad usage as a way to reduce the time from the onset of a stroke to the administration of emergency medical services. Not only was my team selected to present our data at the MAHE banquet, but our abstract was also published in the February 2013 addition of Stroke, and I traveled to San Diego to present our work during the International Stroke Conference.  At the end of the summer research program, I was hired into the Parkview Health network as a program coordinator. 

I created the Center on Aging and Health, a department focused on geriatric preventative health, with an initial focus on fall prevention. The Center’s Fall Prevention Clinic opened in April of 2014, using a multidisciplinary approach to create customized care plans for each individual.

Because here is a huge demand for fall prevention—over 13,000 cases of elderly falls have been reported to the Parkview emergency departments—I am looking to expand the Fall Prevention Clinic to one or more of our community hospitals.

Most recently, I was approached by another neurologist and have signed on to help open and coordinate a deep brain stimulation/movement disorder clinic. Numerous times, I find myself in the middle of meetings, feeling like I’m once again in my HUBI group, working on a case.

In the near future, I would like to pursue a master’s degree public health and epidemiology. It is my goal to conduct my own research, using regional demographics to create departments and clinics that focus on preventative health, integrating the use of up-and-coming medical interventions and technology.