Hello! I’m Avalon, and I graduated from UC Davis in Spring 2020 with a B.S. in Global Disease Biology. My academic journey began at Sacramento City College, where I majored in Chemistry with plans to pursue a pre-dental track. However, a summer research internship at the USDA Agricultural Research Service researching Shiga-toxin producing E. coli opened my eyes to the exciting field of agricultural research and how much I loved being in a lab. At UC Davis, I further solidified my interest in research as an undergraduate in Dr. Nitzan Shabek’s lab in Plant Biology.
Hello! My name is Ivan (he/him), and I graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Global Disease Biology (GDB) in 2018. I was originally admitted as a psychology major, but I switched to GDB the summer between my freshman and sophomore years after developing a strong interest in One Health and realizing my passion for ecology.
Hello! I’m Madeline Albert, and I graduated in 2022 with a BS in Global Disease Biology. My academic journey at UC Davis began with a strong interest in science, particularly in human health and medicine. Initially, I started as a general Biological Sciences major, but everything changed when I took the course SAS 13: Disease and Society with Dr. Sara Dye. This course introduced me to the GDB major and ignited my passion for public health and infectious diseases. I was particularly drawn to its focus on One Health and the emphasis on undergraduate research.
Hello! My name is Jocelyn Kirley and I graduated from UC Davis in 2019 with my BS in Global Disease Biology. As an incoming freshman in 2015, I was immediately drawn to the One Health model that guides the program and allowed me to put my passions of human health and social justice together. I worked with Dr.
My name is Jason Tin and I graduated with my bachelor’s in Global Disease Biology and a minor in Public Health Sciences back in 2022. Initially, I came to UC Davis as a biochemistry major, but promptly made the switch to GDB after my first quarter when I learned about its focus on One Health. Although the idea of One Health was new to me at that time, I really resonated with the interdisciplinary approach to health it promoted after reading more about it on the GDB webpage.
My name is Sonia Nezami, and I graduated in June 2023 from UC Davis with a major in Global Disease Biology (GDB). Throughout my time at UCD, I developed a comprehensive understanding of health through the One Health approach, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. This perspective has profoundly shaped my aspirations and prepared me for a career as a Physician Assistant (PA).
Hello! My name is Camila Rodriguez and I recently graduated in 2024 with a B.S. in Global Disease Biology. When I first got to Davis, I was a biological sciences major with dreams of becoming a pediatrician, but I was apprehensive at the idea of committing to one specialty for the rest of my life. After taking Ochem, I thought my dreams of medicine were over because I didn’t have the right GPA, so I decided to take a few courses to help boost it and explore other interests. One of those classes was SAS13: “Disease and Society” with Dr. Leveau.
Hello! My name is Emily Fehrman (she/her); I am a UC Davis GDB graduate, Class of 2019. I entered college knowing that I loved science, but that I was not interested in going to medical school. I struggled a bit to find my academic niche because of this, but felt immediately at home when I found and declared the GBD major. In my Sophomore year at Davis, in GBD90, I met Dr. Barbara Shacklett and was immediately taken by her work in HIV research.
My name is Curtis Carlson, and I graduated from UC Davis in 2018 with a BS in Global Disease Biology. My academic journey followed a long and winding path – a path that continues to be long and winding. After I graduated from high school, I spent four years at my local community college where I ping-ponged between majors (at one point I even considered going into automotive body repair!). In 2015, I transferred to UC Davis as a non-science major.
Hi, my name is Camryn! I graduated from UC Davis in 2021 with my BS in Global Disease Biology. I originally entered college as a biomedical engineering major, but quickly realized that my interests were more aligned with biological and disease focuses. This was how I found GDB, and I was immediately drawn to the major’s emphasis on One Health and breadth of knowledge of disease processes from the cellular to global scale.
