Elyse Johnson ’12
"Throughout my time in high school, I was always deeply interested in the field of women’s health. After deciding that ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ was the right place for me, I began my college career as a Medical Biology major and immediately declared a minor in Women’s and Gender studies. This combination was because I wanted to continue my science core with a supplement of focused humanities studies. At the end of my sophomore year, I decided to change my major to Neuroscience because I wanted to integrate my interests in psychology and physiology and continue looking at those from a gender perspective in order to better serve my future patients.
"Finding a school that was on the smaller side and that made a point of focusing on its students was essential to me. The small class sizes and direct attention that ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ’s students receive from professors and staff alike helped me in my studies as well as my personal growth as a resident. Neuroscience is a rapidly growing major. Being part of the program while it was small was a great experience, but seeing such a burgeoning interest is exciting.
"During my junior and senior years, as well as the summer between them, I worked with Professor David Mokler in his neuropharmacology laboratory. Working as a lab assistant was a supplement to my classes as I learned categorizations, organizational skills, surgical techniques and animal care skills... That experience allowed me to combine all of my lab research, work semi-independently within a laboratory setting, and explore one of my own interests while still furthering the research of the lab. My research experience at ÐÂÏã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ was an in-depth exploration of how research works and the types of methods available today."