PhD Student at the University of Virginia
About
Why did you choose to major in Psychology and how has that affected your career thus far? What was your career path like?
My career path has been and still is dynamic and ever-evolving. I have always been interested, broadly, in health and similar to many undergraduate students, I started off my college journey as a pre-med student interested in practicing medicine. However, I found myself increasingly compelled by Women’s Studies and Psychology courses. These classes challenged, shifted, and expanded my understandings of health and well-being from a solely biomedical perspective to a socio-ecological framework that acknowledges and addresses the ways in which social, psychological, and environmental factors play a role in health and health inequities. Additionally, Psychology is an incredibly flexible major where, throughout your four years, you have the ability to choose a particular area of focus. For example, given that the Public Health major (and the Women’s Studies Gender and Health major) did not exist when I was an undergraduate, I was able to take my own special combination of Psychology and Women’s Studies courses, rooted in health, that really helped to prepare me for my master’s program in the field of Public Health.
What advice do you have for students getting a degree in the UM Psychology Department who are considering your profession?
My advice to students is to take their classes seriously, reach out to professors and graduate students, and get involved in research early! Even if you’re not interested in having a career in research, being a part of a lab can help you become grounded in psychological research and theories, build invaluable connections, cultivate useful skills, and beautifully expand the ways in which you see the world.
How do you use your psychology undergraduate experience in your work?
There are many overlaps between Public Health and Psychology so, often, I am drawing upon Psychological theories and concepts that I learned in undergrad to help inform the Public Health programs and interventions that I’m working to create. It is incredibly fulfilling to see how, on a daily basis, my undergraduate course work in Psychology has truly shaped the way I am able to approach my graduate level work.
What is the best career advice that you have received?
The best career advice that I have received is about the importance of having a solid work ethic that is driven by passion and accountability to myself and the people with whom my work/research aims to work with and support. I am always grounded in my understandings of how “being a good researcher” is about intentionally showing up in my fullest and authentic self to engage in radical, transformative, and healing work.
What has contributed most to your career success?
Being intentional about taking Psychology classes that interested me and had a certain focus, as well as working as a research assistant in Psychology labs has contributed most to my success, thus far. Because Psychology has such a broad scope and is a very large major, it is important for students to critically think about how they might use their Psychology degree in the future, and then work to build certain skills that will be useful to them when they graduate. In my experience, outside of courses, research labs can be a great place for skill building. Outside of research though, I have also learned a tremendous amount from networking with graduate students and professors in the Psychology department. I think it’s important for undergraduate students to take the time to get to know their professors. This can be difficult in such large classes, but finding a few professors or graduate students with whom you really connect with and going to office hours, establishing rapport, and really just asking them about their academic and career trajectory can be a powerful experience.
