Educational/professional background
I finished a BA Creative Writing degree then went back to school to become a veterinarian, graduating as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. While practicing at a small animal clinic, my interest in epidemiology slowly grew. Three years later, I finally took the plunge and applied for a master’s degree abroad.
What I enjoyed most about studying at LSHTM
My programme is unique in the way that it is jointly-taught by LSHTM and Royal Veterinary College (RVC). One of my reasons for pursuing epidemiology was my desire to gain the technical skills that would allow me to work in public health, thus being able to help both humans and animals alike in the future. Therefore, by attending classes in both campuses, my veterinary and scientific knowledge was further honed in RVC, while in LSHTM I was taught how to operate like an epidemiologist, alongside equally determined individuals of varying nationalities and unique professional backgrounds.
Since graduating I have been...
Recently, I finished my PhD at the University of Glasgow after researching rabies incursions in low-and-middle-income countries. While studying, I also served as Field Team Leader and Epidemiologist for SPEEDIER (Surveillance integrating phylogenetics and epidemiology for elimination of disease: evaluation of rabies control in the Philippines), a research project conducted through a local partnership with the Philippines’ Field Epidemiology Training Programme Alumni Foundation, Inc. (FETPAFI). I am currently a postdoctoral research scholar at University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA), where my work focuses on neglected tropical diseases including yellow fever and dengue fever.