Hello GDB Family! My name is Sarai Lillian Acosta, and I am a 2018 graduate of the Global Disease Biology program. Through my time in the Global Disease Biology department, I was a peer advisor and a founding member of the Global Disease Biology Club. I hold a very fond spot in my heart for the GDB program as it changed my perspective on how to work in the world and be a person who inspires change. I transferred to UC Davis as a pre-medical student looking to work on community health in low-income areas both domestically and internationally. Through the GDB program, I learned that being a medical professional was one solution amongst a myriad of other professions and fields. This freedom and flexibility to really be anything that I wanted, gave me the courage to explore new realms that I would have never imagined possible.

After I graduated in 2018, I worked as a Junior Specialist on campus studying food borne diseases, hoping to address community health through food. Through this work I kept trying to find my “niche”, so to speak, and I eventually realized that I had more of a passion for addressing inequity than food safety. In the fall of 2020, I started my Master’s in International Agricultural Development, with a desire to learn best practices for successful and inclusive programs. My personal emphasis is to learn best practices for gender-based inclusion and increasing youth retention in low-income communities. Internationally, I have a desired focus on impacts of “development” and neo-colonialism on indigenous communities through Central America. My career path has changed substantially over the course of the last 5 years, but I love that I am constantly learning more about myself and the world. In many ways I believe GDB had a large impact on how I pursue equitable change. I feel freed from convention and thus have explored many fields to gather best practices on governance, management, and community-based programs.

If you want to reach out: slnacosta@ucdavis.edu