Research

This summer I had the amazing experience, facilitated through the Global Programs Office, of traveling to Uganda to conduct a field research project on African lions.  My project was focused on determining stress in the lion population of Queen Elizabeth National Park. The stressors I explored were fires, undertaken in the park as part of vegetation management, and human settlements.

It is a reassuring feeling to know exactly what you want to do in life. It not so reassuring to be certain of what you want to do, only to realize that your former aspirations are no longer in line with your heart. I knew I still wanted to be a vet, but my career goals became much less clear as I was introduced to the many facets of veterinary medicine.

It is a reassuring feeling to know exactly what you want to do in life. It not so reassuring to be certain of what you want to do, only to realize that your former aspirations are no longer in line with your heart. I knew I still wanted to be a vet, but my career goals became much less clear as I was introduced to the many facets of veterinary medicine.

I spent much of my first year at vet school wondering whether I was in the right place, with the curriculum weighted so heavily towards clinical practice, and my interests lying elsewhere. Hoping to resolve this dissonance, I sought insight into international work in the One Health field, something I imagined myself enjoying.

My summer in Spain was one of chasing wild boars, drinking cafecitos in the office, and eating lots of croquettas. Working at the Institute for Game and Wildlife Research (Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Cinegéticos, or IREC), who collaborate with my UC Davis mentor Beatriz Martinez-Lopez, I was able to briefly explore the world of epidemiology in a unique international setting. I sought to experience both the modeling and fieldwork side of epidemiology, and through Dr.

While I have many unknowns about the future course of my veterinary career, one thing I know for certain is that I want to explore how I can apply a veterinary degree to improving not only the lives of individual animals, but also community and ecological health. Knowing that this emerging field of One Health can have many professional incarnations, I sought out an Office of Global Programs International Summer Externship as a means to gain on the ground field experience.

Last summer, I had the unique opportunity to extern at The University of Queensland School of Veterinary Science teaching hospital in Queensland, Australia. While there, I worked alongside and learned from Dr. Bob Doneley, avian specialist and head of the avian and exotics service at the school, and Dr. Stephanie Shaw, wildlife veterinarian.

This summer I realized a dream I had left on the backburner for over a decade, exploring Mongolia with one of my best friends. Inspired by old National Geographic articles and pieces of historical fiction and non-fiction alike we had declared it the ultimate personal adventure goal. Having grown up (a little) since then, I briefly considered that my excitement at the prospect was perhaps misplaced, that now as a scientist my idea of adventure no longer applied, but I was so very wrong.