What are three words you would use to describe LSM?
Generous, passionate, diverse
What do you find most rewarding or enjoyable about the LSM program?
The people. The upperclassmen, alumni, staff, and faculty in LSM are people you can 100% rely on, and reliably finding advice and support through the LSM community when I’m overwhelmed or confused is the reason I’m most glad to be in LSM.
If you have completed an LSM internship, where did you work and what did your work involve? What was the most rewarding feature of your internship?
This past summer, I worked at Bwiam General Hospital in a rural district of The Gambia. I worked on a renovation project to equip community health posts with solar panels and bathrooms, as well as write a research paper on barriers and facilitators to mobile reproductive and child health clinics. The most rewarding aspect of the my internship was definitely the connections I made with health workers and villagers alike, inspiring me to continue to work for and raise money for BGH.
Are you doing research currently? If so, where and on what, and what do you like about it?
I currently do implementation science research in the Perelman Anesthesiology & Critical Care Department working to improve OR to ICU handoffs in 12 ICUs. I like how translational my research is, as well as the mentorship and resulting mobility (to pursue independent research projects) that I’ve found through my lab.
What main extracurricular activities do you do at Penn?
On campus, I’m part of Penn International Impact Consulting; last year, we worked on prison diversion program with This Life Cambodia, and this year, I’m co-leading a team with another LSM student to set up training programs for Ecuadorian health workers. I’m also an intern at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Resuscitation Science Center and work on bioinformatics projects, and I’m Marketing Chair for the Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity.