Hi all! I’m Mavis, a 4th-year GDB + public health sciences minor. Back in high school, GDB caught my eye due to its unique nature and structure, which was only exclusively offered at UC Davis. I’ve always known from a young age that life sciences was my niche, and GDB’s curriculum nurtured my curiosity in health. With its extensive connection with so many departments through its One Health lens, I was able to curate the major into anything and everything I was interested in.

Throughout my time here, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Dr. Jorge Rodrigues on soil microbes in the Amazon Rainforest, UC Davis Health’s IDStAR clinical research team on a novel UTI vaccination, and Dr. Terza Brostoff on pigeon parvoviruses. On top of that, the huge variety of restricted electives allowed me to explore public health, disease, and statistics courses that have ultimately shaped my background to be a strong candidate for MPH programs. This past cycle, I have had the opportunity to receive admission from Columbia University, the University of Washington - Seattle, UC Irvine, and UC Berkeley. After graduation, I will be joining Berkeley within their Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology program with the final goal of becoming an epidemiologist!