In 2018, I switched from Mechanical Engineering to Health Sciences at Carleton University, driven by a newfound passion for medicine. The idea of switching majors was daunting, but entering Health Sciences was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The Health Sciences program helped me not only get accepted but also perform well within medical school. For example, the program will provide you with MCAT readiness through comprehensive coursework. This foundation eased my MCAT studying, as much of the material was familiar from class. Additionally, certain Health Sciences courses (especially pathology!) provided me with a deep and lasting understanding of disease mechanisms. In the fast-paced environment of medical school, this foundation has come in handy several times! Carleton's tight-knit environment also fosters invaluable connections with peers and professors. The support and collaboration are invaluable, and that is not something you find at most premed programs. Lastly, practical experiences, including a research-focused field placement in my fourth year, also enriched my application to medical school. Overall, the Health Science program’s rigorous curriculum, combined with a nurturing community, allowed me to succeed and achieve my dreams of getting into medical school. I cannot recommend the program enough. 

Having recently survived a global pandemic, we are acutely aware of how something as small as a virus can completely upend our lives. How it can change our day-to-day activities, and our social interactions, and even cause disruptions to global economies. To prepare for the next pandemic, we need to learn from our past successes and failures. We need to understand what represents a potential threat and how we can limit the emergence of new infectious agents.  We also need to identify new strategies to protect our most vulnerable populations including new vaccines and treatments. Through my teaching and research, I seek to address some of these complex issues. In my upper-year classes, we discuss the immune system, how it works, and how it contributes to disease. We explore recent literature on the new technologies being used to study and develop new treatments against infectious agents. We also delve into the history of pandemics and the biological, social, and environmental factors that contributed to their spread. In my research lab, we are investigating the cellular mechanisms that fine-tune immune responses during different types of infection. To conduct these studies, we are developing 3D tissue models and organ-on-a-chip systems to evaluate host-pathogen interactions in the lung and non-healing wounds. By identifying novel regulators of the immune system, we hope to develop immunotherapies that train the immune system to be “smarter” and better able to target and kill infectious agents while limiting collateral tissue damage and disease.