Duke profoundly shaped who I am today – inspiring and preparing me to pursue a career in global maternal-child health, broadening my worldview, and connecting me with my lifelong partner and friends.
I still vividly recall Paul Farmer’s Founders Day convocation speech my freshman year when he spoke in Duke Chapel about his relentless efforts to expand access to primary care for the poor in Haiti. I was inspired by his message about the power of health promotion as a basic human right, and this motivated me to volunteer in the local Durham community, where I taught after-school science and dance classes to low-income children at the Boys & Girls Club and an elementary school. These experiences solidified my commitment to work with underserved children, ensuring that every child, no matter where and to whom they are born, has equal access to quality health care and the opportunity to thrive.
Duke opened my eyes to a vast new world, offering me the opportunity to explore different continents and cultures for the first time. I grew up in South Carolina as the daughter of Chinese immigrants, but before college, I had not traveled extensively outside the U.S. Thanks to a grant from the Josiah Charles Trent Memorial Foundation, I spent the summer after my freshman year in Beijing studying traditional Chinese medicine. There, I encountered entirely different belief systems regarding health and disease, and even witnessed a caesarean section performed with acupuncture as the sole anesthesia. Through the A.B. Duke Scholars Program, I also had the privilege of studying at Oxford University, where the tutorial system challenged me to dig deeply to research complex new topics, think critically, ask difficult questions, and articulate my arguments effectively. These experiences abroad expanded my worldview, taught me how to question convention, and motivated me to pursue a career in global health.
At Duke, I also engaged in rigorous biomedical research at the School of Engineering that prepared me for my research career. Under the mentorship of Dr. Ping Ting-Beall, I learned how to develop scientific hypotheses and design and conduct experiments, and I spent many hours pipetting blood cells. Duke provided critical research funding and fellowships that provided pilot funding to explore new ideas and allowed me to pursue research over the summers. These skills are foundational to my clinical research in maternal and child health today. Finally, through Duke, I met my kindred spirits – my lifelong partner and best friends. My freshman hallmate at Gilbert-Addoms invited me to take a social dance class and now, more than two decades later, we have four children who are part of this incredible Duke legacy.