GDB Alumni Spotlight, March 2021: Sarai Acosta

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.

GDB Alumni Spotlight, February 2021: Mica Zimmerman

Hello, Global Disease Biology students and faculty! My name is Mica Zimmerman and I was a member of the 2018 graduating class. I am currently a nursing student at Oregon Health & Science University and am halfway through my 15-month accelerated BSN program. In September I will take the NCLEX, and then immediately go into my 3-year doctorate program specializing in Nurse-Midwifery. During my senior year at Davis, I was volunteering as a birth doula at Dignity Health in Woodland, which I absolutely recommend for any students interested in maternal and child health.

GDB Alumni Spotlight, January 2021: Evan Lozano

Hello Global Disease Biology Students! My name is Evan Lozano, and I am a graduate of the Global Disease Biology Class of 2018. I was the GDB Peer adviser from Winter 2017- Spring 2018. When I started as peer adviser the major only had about 100 students and I loved watching it grow in the two years I worked with the department; by the time I graduated, there were over 300 GDB students. In my time as a GDB student, I also helped cofound the Global Disease Biology Major Club, where GDB students can come together to create community within the major and discuss current disease events.

GDB Alumni Spotlight, November 2020: Jason Singson

Hello fellow GDBers! My name is Jason Singson and I am a 2019 graduate of the GDB major as well as a 2020 graduate of the MPH program at UC Davis. I currently am a CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellow for COVID-19 at the California Department of Public Health. GDB provided a great foundation for my MPH and my fellowship - from LOGIC models and incident command system in GDB 102, SIR models of GDB 101 and VME 158, and the endless phylogenetic trees of EVE 100. However, I am most grateful for the 25 units of restricted electives!

GDB Alumni Spotlight, October 2020: Jackson Stuart

Hello, current Global Disease Biology students! My name is Jackson Barr Stuart; I am currently a second year Pathobiology Ph.D. student at University of Washington, and in my former life I was the first peer adviser for GDB and a member of the 2017 graduating class. I have been so thrilled and proud to see our program grow and develop over the years, and I look forward to seeing the continued successes of all current and future students!

GDB Alumni Spotlight, May 2020: Ellen Osborn

Hi! My name is Ellen and I am a part of GDB's 2018 graduating class. One of my first classes at UC Davis as a transfer student was BIS 101, and I quickly got sucked into the world of genetics, a field of study I previously had zero interest in. Though I was a pre-med student, I chose to do my practicum on plant population genetics because I found an amazing mentor and lab group, which made all the difference when it came to starting out in research.

GDB Alumni Spotlight, April 2020: Nicole Finney

Hi everyone! My name is Nicole Finney and I graduated from UC Davis this past summer. I was a GDB student and a Public Health Sciences minor. During undergrad I was able to take part in many extracurriculars and explore different classes as I tried to figure out what I wanted to do after graduation.