November 2024 SOCRA Source Journal - Journal - Page 64
during my undergraduate
years and subsequently was
still on LISTSERVs for many
organizations and student
groups. When I looked more
into this speci昀椀c program, there
were several aspects of the
program that highly motivated
me to apply. This program
facilitates my engagement
in an exploration of diverse
clinical settings, affording me
the privilege to observe and
gain insights from various
perspectives by shadowing a
range of roles within the realm of
clinical care and clinical research.
Additionally, the 昀氀exibility and
scope of this role allows for
networking with people from all
backgrounds and careers such as
attending physicians, residents,
medical students, physician
assistants, genetic counselors,
geneticists, nurses, clinical
and translational researchers,
clinical research coordinators,
and project managers. These
connections provide me the
prospect to explore different
career paths that relate to clinical
research and clinical care.
As previously mentioned,
throughout the majority of my
academic journey, my aspiration
was centered on pursuing a
career as a physician. However,
the beginning of the COVID-19
pandemic not only altered my
post-undergraduate plans but
also prompted a reevaluation of
my perspectives, leading me to
contemplate the kind of career
I truly wished to pursue. As a
pre-medical student, my focus
had been singularly directed
toward a speci昀椀c goal. The
abrupt pause imposed by the
pandemic allowed me the time
and space to re昀氀ect on what
truly mattered to me and to
reassess whether my professional
and career objectives aligned
with the life I envisioned. I
wanted to seek out insights
from individuals across various
64
professions to understand the
intersection of their professional
and personal lives. My goal was
to gain clarity on the work-life
balance I desired and identify
the career that would align best
with those priorities. Given my
previous single-track approach, I
had not explored or considered
alternative professions, even
within the healthcare domain.
The interruption caused by
the pandemic became an
opportunity for introspection and
a reconsideration of potential
career paths. I am appreciative
of the expansive scope afforded
by the D-PRIME program,
enabling me to engage with a
diverse array of professions both
within and outside the healthcare
system. This exposure has been
instrumental in broadening my
understanding and providing
valuable insights as I navigate
my evolving career aspirations.
As the inaugural learner in this
program, I have also engaged in
higher learning through courses
and programs offered from the
University of Minnesota. One
speci昀椀c program, from which I
have obtained a certi昀椀cate, is
from the University of Minnesota
Of昀椀ce For Equity and Diversity Equity and Diversity Certi昀椀cate
Program3. The program consists
of engaging with reading and
media materials on a digital
curriculum platform (Canvas)
and participating in a Zoom
Dialogue for each course. This
engagement represents and
re昀氀ects ways we can learn and
grow in equity and diversity
work—intellectual learning,
emotional processing, and
practicing skills. Speci昀椀cally, this
program strives to help learners
develop tools necessary for
advancing equity and diversity in
all aspects of their personal and
professional lives. The program
offers learners a theoretical
framework for understanding
equity and diversity work, helps
SOCRA SOURCE © November 2024
learners develop necessary skills
for equity and diversity work and
gives learners direct experience
working and communicating
across differences. A second
opportunity awarded to me in
the D-PRIME program was the
2023 Public Health Institute
Preparedness Scholarship that
covered tuition and fees for a
week-long summer course at the
University of Minnesota School
of Public Health. This allowed
me to enroll in the course
titled “Racism and the Pursuit
of Health Equity: Moving from
Colorblind to Race-Conscious
Policies and Practices”. This
course was designed to
introduce participants to the
historical issues, theories, and
empirical data related to racism
and its impacts on health
inequities through the existence
of inequitable policies and
practices. With brief background
lectures on racism and empirical
evidence of the impacts of
colorblind/race-neutral policies,
class sessions challenged the
learner to consider how we can
design more race conscious
policies and practices that
will advance health equity for
all. Following this course, I
created a presentation based on
teachings from the course and
independent literature reviews
that touched on the pervasive
barriers that contribute to lack
of representation of historically
marginalized populations in
clinical trials. In June of 2023,
I delivered this presentation
and shared what I had learned
to the University of Minnesota –
Peds CRS team.
Furthermore, this program
permits the opportunity to
incorporate my own interests.
I am at the end of my 昀椀rst
year and a half of this postbaccalaureate program, and
now have created a social
behavioral independent research
study related to health equity
