Hello fellow Aggies! My name is Claire Meunier and I graduated from UC Davis in Spring 2017 with a BS in Global Disease Biology (GDB).  I grew up in Oregon, in a college town not too different from Davis, so I felt right at home the moment I arrived on campus.

During my time at Davis, I was also a proud member of the UCD tennis team, balancing academics and athletics kept me busy, but it also taught me a lot about discipline, teamwork, and time management. The GDB program was my first introduction to epidemiology and played a major role in shaping my career path. I was drawn to the interdisciplinary approach of the curriculum, which helped me understand the complex factors that influence population health. After completing my undergraduate degree, I earned my MPH in Epidemiology at Oregon State University, where I built on the foundation I gained at UC Davis and developed a deeper interest in public health research.

Following my MPH, I worked for two years at the Department of Veterans Affairs as a Research Associate, where I was involved in suicide prevention research. This experience further solidified my commitment to the public health field. I'm currently completing my PhD in Epidemiology at UC Davis, where my research focuses on lifecourse risk factors for cognitive aging in older adults. I'm passionate about understanding how early and mid-life exposures influence brain health later in life. The GDB program was instrumental in sparking my interest in research and epidemiology, and I’m incredibly grateful for the mentorship and opportunities it provided. It is my goal to remain in academia, where I can continue contributing to research in public health and cognitive aging. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about public health, research, or graduate school!