Biography
What attracted you to the health metrics field?
For the majority of my undergraduate career I planned to pursue a career in the biomedical sciences; however, my interest in public health began when I took a course on the sociology of health and environmental science. Learning about the influence of social, political, and economic factors on health and health service delivery allowed me to better understand the ways in which research and policy interact to influence global health. When I learned about IHME, I saw the opportunity to combine my interest in medicine and the quantitative skills I acquired through my undergraduate laboratory experience with my growing interest in public health in way that has the potential to impact the health landscape worldwide.
What work are you doing at IHME?
I currently work on the disease methods and estimation team as part of the Global Burden of Disease study. GBD aims to quantify health loss due to disease, injury, and exposure to risk factors across time, age, sex, and geography. I am modeling the burden of chronic kidney disease in order to quantify the mortality and nonfatal outcomes dues to this disease. By systematically quantifying the amount of health loss due to specific causes worldwide, we hope that policy decisions and resource allocation can be continually improved and enriched to meet the health needs of the global population.
How do you think your experience at IHME will contribute to your future work?
After my time here, I hope to pursue a career as a research physician. The quantitative skill set I gain at IHME will allow me to take a strong analytical approach to research and present my findings in a meaningful way. I also hope that my understanding of the public health field will provide me with an interdisciplinary perspective on health in order to help me better characterize and investigate the important problems in the field.