My name is Emmet, and I am so glad I decided to major in Global Disease Biology at UC Davis! When I first started my undergraduate degree, I thought I wanted to go to medical school. I did not know what other career options I could pursue with my interest in infectious diseases. Thanks to the GDB major, I was able to explore many different career options with some amazing faculty. The GDB practicum in particular helped me join a lab and get hands on research experience, which is how I fell in love with parasitology! I was an undergraduate researcher in the Dawson Lab and I did my practicum on novel candidate transcription factors in the parasite Giardia lamblia, which I also had the privilege of presenting at the Undergraduate Research Conference. 

My achievements during my time at UC Davis in the GDB program landed me a spot at the University of Washington, where I am currently pursuing a PhD in Biology. I am a full-blown Giardia nerd now, and studying how this parasite causes disease is very fulfilling. I will forever be grateful to the Global Disease Biology major for helping me to find my niche, something I am passionately curious about. The wonderful faculty, students, staff, and overall environment of the GDB major also taught me the collaborative nature of science. This provided a foundation for me to approach problems from a truly interdisciplinary angle, and I am so excited to continue to grow as a biologist with such a strong start. Go Ags!