Growing up around all aspects of medicine and healthcare heavily influenced my desire to become a doctor. My father’s career with the Indian Health Service took us around the country, expanding my community. Through high school I maintained a strong interest in sciences, while also spending time playing music, learning languages, and dabbling in theater. This variety of interests led me to Gonzaga University, a liberal arts school. After college, I joined the Peace Corps as a community health volunteer and lived and worked in Burkina Faso for two years. During my service, I quickly learned how community perceptions of need often differ from health workers’ perceptions, creating a barrier to accessing care. Using my creativity and collaborating with village leadership we were able to implement programs using minimal resources. My time in Burkina was an invaluable experience and expanded my knowledge of public health and community behavior change. Following my service I returned to Alaska, but found the weather a tad extreme. I quickly traded the tundra for the bayou. I started work as a construction site supervisor in New Orleans through AmeriCorps. Although I was tasked with installing drywall, mudding, painting, and laying tile, I was more compelled by my interactions with the homeowners we worked for. After AmeriCorps, I worked customer service jobs, but felt dissatisfied with my career trajectory. My thoughts often returned to my time in Burkina. I wanted to strengthen the skills I developed and apply the knowledge I learned from my time abroad, in Alaska, and New Orleans. In 2016, I started a master’s degree program in Public Health and Tropical Medicine in pursuit of this goal. As an older student navigating academia while also juggling the responsibilities of mentoring multiple graduate students in my role as the Global Scholars Program coordinator, I came to realize how resilient and capable I am. I graduated in the spring of 2018 and a few months later, started working for Tulane University as a Program Manager for an infectious disease research group. In this position I contribute to large-scale epidemiological studies, support implementation of clinical trials, manage and analyze large data sets, and mentor students. I continue to learn invaluable lessons related to academic research, global and public health, and implementation science, and they shape my idea of what a physician can be and do. As a physician, I plan to develop strong collaborative relationships with colleagues and patients, decrease health disparities through research and implementation of public health interventions, and be on the frontlines of the evolution of medicine. My personal medical experiences emphasize the importance of patient advocacy and a holistic, inclusive approach to medicine. I will advocate for myself and for others. I want to be a respected, and more importantly, trusted doctor. My resiliency, empathy, and strong work ethic will make me an excellent physician and an asset to the medical field.