Name: Lisa

Year: Junior

Major(s): Biology, Economics

Minor(s): Global Health

CFS Program: Field Studies in Public Health

In the winter quarter of my sophomore year, I decided to drop the pre-med track and add on an economics major. Many people questioned what I plan to do with a biology and economics major when they are two vastly different fields. Prior to my internship at Cures Within Reach, I thought that I would have to make a choice and sacrifice one of my majors to pursue a career in either the sciences or in business.

I am a social finance initiative intern at Cures Within Reach, a nonprofit organization that fosters stakeholder collaborations to finance high-impact drug repurposing research and projects. I support the pilot social finance initiative program by researching successful social impact bonds and better defining the metrics of the target outcome to secure an adequate return for investors. My experience has confirmed my passions for both biology and economics, and has allowed me to explore the intersection of these two fields.

Additionally, the CFS Public health class has allowed me to ruminate on the implications of public health through a social, political, and economic perspective. We have had lively debates regarding the ethics of mandating vaccinations and have explored the evolution of public health careers in the 20th century. This course has made me understand that public health careers are multidimensional, and allowed me to contemplate the possibility of working in this sector in the future. Through CFS, I have had the unique opportunity to develop my personal professional skills whilst also enforcing my academics.