ENRICH-US stands for ENhanced Recovery In CHildren Undergoing SUrgery. It is a national study led by Northwestern University that has 18 total pediatric hospitals involved. The purpose of this study is to enhance the recovery process for children undergoing GI surgery. Riley Hospital is involved in this study, and I was asked to be a part of the Riley team as a PAL! My role is to speak on behalf of the patients and their families, as I have been through a handful of pediatric GI surgeries and have a good understanding of the recovery process. I give my input and ideas based off of my experiences to the Riley Team and the overall study team in order to help improve outcomes for future pediatric GI patients. This position has allowed to develop a stronger understanding of what is currently going on in the world of general surgery, which is amazing because this is an area I am heavily interested in for my future career!

For the entirety of my junior and senior years, I was an ambassador for LHSI. My responsibilities include communicating with/helping the interns and grading their ePortfolios, assisting with recruitment of future interns, helping applicants during application season, networking with student organizations to spread the word about LHSI, and working with the rest of the LHSI team to coordinate events for the interns and come up with new ideas. This position has allowed me to further expand in my leadership skills because I am in charge of a portion of the interns, and they rely on me for certain information/help on their ePortfolios. One of my favorite parts of this job is being able to connect with other programs at IUPUI and talk to future applicants! I love being able to tell them about our program and direct help in whatever way they need.

During Fall 2021, I led a recitation for organic chemistry. Some of my responsibilities included attending a weekly meeting with the other orgo leaders to discuss the recitation problems for the given week, proctoring exams, hosting exam review sessions, and leading my recitation. I have always wanted to have a teaching position so I can further improve my leadership skills, and this experience provided that for me! Some valuable skills I learned were how to redirect questions, problem-solve with my students, and how to professionally teach while still being a peer. I'm excited to continue this experience in future semesters and utilize these skills in medical school!

During my sophomore year, I was an LHSI intern for Dr. Emily Mueller at Riley Hospital for Children. Dr. Mueller's research focused on understanding the experiences caregivers and children with cancer go through as they navigate the healthcare system. One of our main projects was the development of a mHealth (mobile health) tool called Cope 360. This app allows caregivers to track their child's symptoms, manage medications, and create an emergency preparedness plan. One of the major tasks was being in charge of recruiting and interviewing eligible caregivers for beta testing, which had caregivers use the app for a one-week study period to see how well the app works. Being involved in this study has helped me build my communication skills, professionalism, time management, and critical thinking.

During the 2020-2021 academic year, I've been working as a committee member for Jagathon in the Family Relations committee. My responsibilities include fundraising money for Riley Hospital, attending committee meetings and events, and meeting with Riley kids and their families to keep them in the loop for all of the events that Jagathon has planned for the year.

During my freshman year, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. James Marrs' research team in the School of Science. This was made possible through the First-Year Apprenticeship Program for biology majors. Dr. Marrs' research focuses on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and uses zebrafish as a research model for genetic modifications. My main tasks while I worked in the lab were to take care of the research subjects by feeding them, taking daily measurements of water, performing monthly water quality tests, and cleaning lab equipment. While I worked here, I learned how to accurately gather and analyze data and communicate in a professional and efficient manner with my team members. In the past, I have had a difficult time speaking up whenever I had a question or needed instructions to be repeated. However, through this experience, I became more confident in myself and realized that there is nothing wrong with asking for clarification. This is an important skills to have at my internship site, especially since most of the work needs to be done remotely due to COVID-19. Before this experience, I never considered focusing on research as a doctor, so this opened my mind to that possibility.

From summer 2019 to summer 2021, I worked at a commercial printing shop called Tactive (formerly known as Print Resources). My job was to prepare packages for shipping, print shipping labels, count/record inventory, and assemble gift packages for clients. All of the work I did here had strict deadlines and had to be done with the help of multiple people, so communication, organization, and efficiency were crucial skills to have. This experience proved to myself that I know how to effectively work in a group and delegate/teach tasks to others, so it reinforced my future goal of attending medical school.