MS3
University of Colorado Denver, School of Medicine
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
I am currently a third year medical student at the University of Colorado Denver - Anschutz Medical Campus. I was born and raised in Mombasa, Kenya, and I moved to Denver in 2006 to pursue a major in Biology, and minors in Economics and Leadership. I developed a keen interest in microbiology during my undergraduate study, and worked in a lab investigating the cpx gene in E. coli. Due to the complicated and lengthy immigration process, I had to secure my permanent residency before I could apply to medical school. While working on the immigration process, I was fortunate to be offered a Teaching Assistant position in the Department of Integrative Biology and Department of Chemistry at the University of Colorado Denver. I transitioned to work at Quest Diagnostics, and then as a Clinical Tab Technician first, and later as a Medical Lab Scientist in the Microbiology division of the Clinical Lab at the University of Colorado Hospital. I was fortunate to become a permanent resident through the Diversity Visa lottery program which allowed me to apply to medical school. During the summer break after my first year of medical school, I traveled to Cape Town, South Africa to work in a hospital in one of the townships called Khayelitsha. During my second year as a medical student, I decided to get involved in research projects led by Dr. Andres Henao Martinez in the School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease. My passion for global health intertwined with my enthusiasm in microbiology led me to pursue a research project that would shed light on Yellow Fever vaccination. I believe this research is important because it provides a platform that is much needed to reassure and reaffirm the safety of Yellow Fever vaccination while improving strategies designed to increase immunization rates.