"We live in a world broken by injustice; I often think of Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote, 'Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.'

I’m passionate about being part of the movement toward righting these wrongs, and the space where I find the most excitement about entering into that movement is public health, where research and data meet policymaking and politics.

My master’s project focuses on understanding how Minnesota’s jails are providing health care for pregnant women misusing opioids, which aligns with a number of my strongest interests: health equity, maternal and child health, and the carceral state. I’ve been working alongside a team (led by Assistant Professor Rebecca Shlafer) assessing data from a recently administered survey of jail clinicians to establish what the current clinical care practices are for this population in Minnesota. We know the national standards of care for folks who are pregnant and misusing opioids, but are jails equipped to carry this out, or are there barriers and challenges they are facing? I’m conducting data analysis and helping write a committee report for the project.

I’ve also become increasingly interested in health economics — it’s almost a language in itself, and the more fluently I speak it, the better I’ll be able to use it as a tool to work toward just policies.”