Laura's Story
What is your global health story? What experiences have you had with global health?
Health and well-being are basic rights for children around the world. My global health experience was doing “A Day for A Change" at John Stanford International School (JSIS) in Seattle. On April 6 of 2009, I taught kids at JSIS about Papua New Guinea. In these rural areas children don’t get clean water, healthy food or medical care. But in Papua New Guinea, access to these rights is sometimes difficult as the villages and kids are in deep valleys, on steep mountains and in outlying islands (reached by dangerous boat rides).
This means that often children do not even receive their basic vaccinations (e.g., only 65 per cent of children under the age of one are immunized against measles). As a result, every year, about 13,000 children die before they reach the age five, mainly from malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, measles or malnutrition.
After my lecture, I placed a jar in every classroom to collect change and explained how the money raised will have a real impact on the lives of children in Papua New Guinea. In a week, the JSIS community raised $503.55. These funds will help on health and well-being projects in Papua New Guinea (e.g., Home Fit for Children and the North Goroka Primary School).
I would like to thank Ana Gervassi, PhD, the John Stanford International School community and United Nations Children's Fund for making this project possible.
When did you attend the BioQuest Academy?
I attended BioQuest Academy in 2008.
What was your favorite lab that you participated in while you attended the Academy?
My favorite part of the Academy was working with microarrays slides for the purpose of figuring which genes were more active during latency in a tuberculosis model organism, Mycobacterium smegmatis. This knowledge allowed us to think about a medical solution to turn off active genes that were active and possibly find a cure for tuberculosis. I gained a lot of experience, skills and access lab tools that I didn't have at my high school like centrifuges, micropipettes, and electrophoresis. This experience was the start of my science carrier and future.
How has the BioQuest Academy helped you?
Being part of the Academy confirmed my goals and interest in biomedical and biochemical sciences. It also narrowed down my college search and informed me of programs like Alliances for Learning and Vision for Underrepresented Americans (ALVA) at the University of Washington. I got A LOT of network opportunities and support throughout my senior year on college applications, information about scholarships and opportunities in the state of Washington. For example, we attended a conference about tuberculosis held at Moses Lake, where I got more into knowledge about this disease, learned how it is affecting communities locally and what public health workers are doing to stop its spread. Thank you BioQuest Academy for giving the opportunity to participate in an all-exclusive internship that changed my life.
What are you doing now?
I have completed my experience ALVA. I worked at the Lidsdrom Laboratory isolating and identifying a plastic degrading bacterium. This experience helped me find a job at the University of Washington for my school year. Thank you BioQuest Academy for the skills gained which helped me to succeed at the University of Washington.
If you’re currently attending college, where do you go?
I started at the University of Washington in Seattle in fall 2009.
What do you enjoy about the college that you go to?
I love all the opportunities offered at the University of Washington: scholarships, internships, studying abroad, community service, you name it....it's there. I love the way that you bump into new people every single day, and how you can meet people from all over the world, Spain, China, Korea since the University of Washington has its own network with colleges around the world. Its location, in the middle of Seattle is incredible. The people are amazing; it is certainly the best place to be. GO HUSKIES!!!!
What hobbies do you enjoy?
I enjoy dancing, doing what I want, learning something new every day, and laughing. As long as I am laughing, I am happy.
Now that you are a graduate of the BioQuest Academy, what advice would you give to an incoming student?
Now that I am a graduate of the Academy, I advise the incoming students to ask questions and really understand the information they are given as they will use it at some point in their life. Also, to take advantage of the unique learning opportunity, to interact with Seattle Biomedical Research Institute's world-class researchers that teaches students through experience rather than demonstration.
