I have grown high-impact nonprofits with widely divergent operating models, from a global grassroots network to a community-based social service provider.

What excites me about global health is the opportunity to think on a systems level. I am motivated by a desire to look at root causes, and to identify how unique parts intersect. I am fascinated by human behavior, and seek to understand why we have created the systems and structures we have, and how we might choose to create different ones.

This was what drove my research as a Fulbright Scholar in Jordan, where I researched how US-directed foreign aid impacted women’s political participation. My work synthesized Middle East foreign aid policy, economic development, political protests, and the role of tribes. This systems-level thinking also drove research I completed for my master’s thesis, when I spoke with Native American veterans regarding holistic health models to address PTSD. These models lifted up both Western and indigenous healing practices. As someone who has struggled with my own health challenges, and who has benefitted from both traditional and Western medicine, this work is deeply personally important to me.