1. As a math and science lover who’s always made things by hand, engineering was a perfect place to start undergrad. University of Virginia’s biomedical engineering curriculum exposed me to everything from focused ultrasound for drug delivery across the blood brain barrier to machine learning to categorize sleep stages.

2. The biomed department was highly research focused, but I quickly gravitated towards medical engineering and got the chance to work with surgeons to sketch and model their surgical device ideas. The close connection to people and their needs was infinitely more compelling to me than lab work, and my comfort with sketching out three dimensional devices in the moment came in handy.

3. Although I knew innately that a successful solution requires more than technical excellence, taking an architecture studio gave me the language to understand problem solving in a new way. The studio was called Design Thinking in Healing Schaeffer Sommers, and I was placed in the Intensive Care Unit at the UVA hospital to listen, observe, and craft solutions to problems I saw. I learned that a great solution requires great visual and verbal communication to gain attention, support, and lasting power.

4. Medical care only accounts for 11% of an individual’s health. We must consider determinants across individual behavior, environment, genetics, biology, and social circumstances to holistically address health. With GoInvo, I’ve been able to work on projects across the health spectrum (policy, genomics, pharmacy, hospitals). Everywhere we go, there is a need for usable and delightful design, visual communication, and creative solutions.