About
My name is Katie and I am a senior at Michigan, majoring in Neuroscience. I will be graduating in May of 2021! I am originally from Santa Clara, California but I ended up at school in Michigan because my dad was born and raised near East Lansing. At school, I am involved in the Phi Chi Pre-Medical Fraternity as well as Sigma Kappa Sorority. I have also volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House and the VA Hospital and have done research both through UROP and outside of UROP.
When I am home in California, I love to go hiking and to the beach, and I love exploring all that California has to offer. My favorite places in California are along the coast of Northern California, anywhere from Davenport to Big Sur! I also really enjoy travelling, and had the opportunity to study abroad in Copenhagen during my winter semester of junior year. Even though it was cut short by the pandemic, I still made it to 8 countries and 15 cities while I was in Europe! My favorite country outside of Denmark was definitely Portugal!
One of my best experiences is definitely my involvement in an overnight camp run in Northern California for families affected by pediatric cancer. It is one of my favorites places in the world because I get to spend a week swimming, kayaking, hiking, doing archery and so much more with a bunch of amazing kids who share such a unique experience.
Once I graduate from Michigan, I plan to take a gap year while I apply to medical schools. I hope to eventually work as a pediatrician! I really enjoyed UROP because it gave me the opportunity to get more exposure in the medical field and the research that goes along with medicine. My research position was with a pediatric cardiologist, which was great because it allowed me to learn more about a specialty in pediatric medicine. I also had the opportunity during the summer after my sophomore year to work at Stanford with a team of Pediatric Anesthesiologists who created a virtual reality program at Lucile Packard. That was an amazing experience because I gained so much experience in pediatric medicine and also had the opportunity to shadow in the operating room. These experiences solidified my desire to go into pediatric medicine and I can’t wait to get to work with kids one day!