My path to Public Health was circuitous. When I graduated from Smith College, I was headed for a career in environmental science at the EPA. But plans change. My mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer, so I returned home to Oregon to support my mother and family. The terminal nature of my mother’s illness notwithstanding, her disease progression was, naturally, unpredictable. Since I enjoy eating on a regular basis, I worked an array of colorful positions during that time. A job in an HIV clinic prompted interest in communicable disease and public health. I enrolled in my local MPH program and became fervent about emerging and vector borne diseases. After completing coursework at OHSU, I found the Pacific Northwest lacked lucrative job opportunities for enthusiastic new researchers interested in eradicating dengue fever. So I initiated my public health career working on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey and moved through a number of programs for the State of Oregon. In 2000, I began working for the Oregon cancer registry, responsible for the analysis, use, dissemination and interpretation of registry data. In 2005, I was hired by the Florida cancer registry to increase in-house research potential. While working at the Florida registry, I completed my PhD in Epidemiology and currently work for NAACCR.Hence, my path to Public Health was indirect—yet logical. My interests now lie specifically in Cancer Epidemiology. Initially a distraction from my career aims, my mother’s illness became my muse. I am keenly interested in the social factors that disproportionately affect susceptibility, diagnosis, survival, and burden of disease among the poor and disenfranchised. Although primarily interested in social disparities from an equity standpoint, I believe strongly that health at all levels is influenced by community structures, not solely the status of individuals. I am proud to add quantitative evidence to the conventional wisdom that it sucks to be poor.