I started as a summer shadow, and was offered a permanent scribe position at the end of the summer. Each semester since I've worked anywhere from one afternoon to three full days per week, depending on my school schedule. I see patients with the physician and subsequently document the history of present illness, physical exams or procedures performed, and the assessment and plan. I have the opportunity to assist with minor office procedures (vasectomies, biopsies, cystoscopies, etc) and perform other administrative tasks as needed. I also have the opportunity to shadow surgeries, for example robotic prostatectomies, nephrectomies, lithotripsies, TURPs, and circumcisions.

Part of the Freshman Research Initiative at UT Austin, this course focuses on teaching freshman basic lab techniques to prepare them for future research experiences & science careers by guiding them through self-designed experiments. There is a heavy focus on scientific writing and literature, ethics in science and medicine, and the interplay between science and the arts. I was a student in this course my freshman year, and subsequently worked as a TA for the rest of my time at UT. I help students design and troubleshoot experiments, independently teach lab techniques and supervise lab sections, organize and give supplementary lectures, provide writing assistance for struggling students, schedule, and grade.

Women in Natural Sciences (WINS) in an honors program working for the recruitment and retention of women in STEM fields. I was one of only 60 women selected from my class for admission to this program. Freshman are matched with a peer mentor in the program, usually a year older, and social events encourage the formation of a close-knit group of high-achieving women. WINS encourages participation in undergraduate research through admission to the Freshman Research Initiative, and by connecting students to a network of female scientists though weekly presentation seminars. After being accepted to the program my freshman year, I worked as a peer mentor as a sophomore. I was responsible for academic advising as well as making sure my mentees were adjusting socially. I played a role in planning/organizing outreach and social events designed to promote scientific interest in girls K-12, as well as coordinating our volunteer activities (like Mobile Loaves and Fishes delivery). For 2 semesters I also worked as an TA for our weekly seminar, recruiting female guest scientists from different fields to present their research.

The Huibregtse Lab studies the biochemistry of ubiquitination in eukaryotic cells, in part focusing on identifying the substrates of HECT and RING E3s using a novel technique to covalently trap the substrate with the E3 for subsequent purification and identification via mass spectrometry (these fusion proteins are called UBAITS, or Ubiquitin-Activated Interaction Traps). My primary project focused on the tumor suppressor gene, p53, and determining if its role in cancer development occurs through a loss-of-function or gain-of-function mechanism. I created both wild type and mutant p53 UBAITs, comparing their respective substrates in vivo to determine if the mutants acquired the ability to interact with new partners (which would indicate a gain-of-function mechanism).

Virtual Cures is a stream in the Freshman Research Initiative at UT Austin, which allows students to earn credit for general chemistry/biology labs through novel research. After being a student in the program myself, I served as a mentor/undergraduate TA to the class below me. I was responsible for teaching wet and computer lab techniques, independently supervising students in lab each week, and teaching them how to find & interpret scientific literature. When the students began their own projects, I helped them design experiments, interpret their data, and troubleshoot when they got unexpected results. I also graded their reports and lab notebooks, and was responsible for all the scheduling

Part of the Freshman Research Initiative, the Virtual Cures stream aims to discover new compounds with antibiotic properties using GOLD virtual screening as an alternative to the current standard of time-consuming and expensive high-throughput screening. Potential inhibitors of key bacterial enzymes are computationally identified using GOLD, then are further investigated in the wet lab via activity and inhibition assays. My independent project focused on identifying potential inhibitors of the enzyme phosphoserine phosphatase in Vibrio cholerae. I worked on this project throughout my freshman year as a student in FRI, and stayed on to continue my research for a year thereafter.