3 to Watch

2020年春天, 世界各国仍在努力应对COVID-19大流行的当前和长期影响, 冰球突破豪华版试玩调查了三位在临床研究和公共卫生领域的校友 — 大卫Fajgenbaum ' 03, 乌鸦王爱德华兹，08年 and Christina Potter ' 14 — to see how their work intersects with state, national and global health efforts. Here’这是他们与冰球突破豪华版试玩分享的.

 

What sparked your interest in/passion for science?

大卫Fajgenbaum ' 03, MD, MBA, MSc: 我妈妈被诊断出患有癌症，这激发了我将自己的一生奉献给对抗疾病和开发治疗方法的愿望.

Raven King Edwards, 08年国会议员 It was always a dream of mine to be a pharmacist. So, naturally as I got older I was drawn to science and math. I always loved working with numbers and being able to solve complex problems.

Christina Potter ' 14, MSPH: 当我不再把科学看作是一门需要理解和记忆的学科，而开始把它看作是一个过程和解决影响人们的问题的工具时，我觉得我开始真正感兴趣了.

 

Tell us what clinical research or public health role(s) you currently hold.

Fajgenbaum: I’m an assistant professor of medicine in 转化医学 & Human Genetics 他在宾夕法尼亚大学工作. I also serve as Associate Director for Patient Impact at their 孤儿病中心.

In addition, I lead a center 他在宾夕法尼亚大学工作 called the 细胞因子风暴治疗中心 & Laboratory as well as the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network. 冰球突破豪华版试玩专注于加速治疗细胞因子风暴疾病，如卡斯尔曼病和COVID-19.

King Edwards: I’m a public health program coordinator in the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Potter: 我是一名分析师 Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a research associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

一般来说，你会怎么做? What impact are you making/hoping to make in your field?

Fajgenbaum: 我研究免疫过度激活(如在Castleman病和COVID-19中所见)以及如何最好地治疗免疫过度激活/细胞因子风暴紊乱. 我发现了一些疗法 救了我的命 以及其他病人的生命. I hope to apply these experiences to identify effective treatments for COVID-19.

我还带头努力从根本上改变生物医学研究，并通过合作网络方法和利用药物再利用加速治疗.

King Edwards: 我目前是全州少数族裔糖尿病预防项目的项目经理. 我的希望是倡导消除有色人种社区和资源不足社区的健康差距.

Potter: I research, evaluate and find ways to address threats to domestic and global health, primarily with a focus on infectious disease outbreaks or related policy. For COVID-19, 我撰写并撰写了一些报告，为接触者追踪提供指导, 州长的重新开放计划以及秋季重新开放学校所需的信息.

 

有什么计划吗?, 在Ravenscroft的教学方法或活动，帮助你为现在所做的事情做好准备?

Fajgenbaum: Playing football for Coach Ned Gonet taught me invaluable lessons about hard word, discipline and dealing with adversity that I lean on and benefit from every day.

King Edwards: When I think about my time at Ravenscroft, 对我影响深远的两位老师是David Monaco(初中老师)和Kat Belk(高中老师)。. They both made me feel seen in a school where most students did not look like me. 他们真的对我产生了持久的影响，使我成为少数少数群体中的一员，并保持对自己的忠诚, 我的激情和才华.

Potter: 在拉文斯克罗夫特的法语课让我更加关注撒哈拉以南非洲的健康问题, since there are so many French speakers there. 整个拉文斯克罗夫特的英语课——尤其是莎伦·贝内克的课——教会了我，“还行”的写作不应该满足于此, 因为公共卫生领域的有效沟通与支持它的科学同样重要. 像大学越野赛这样的运动让我明白，最好的团队是由相互支持、相互竞争的人组成的. 平衡AP课程、体育和其他一切帮助我培养了精神耐力和职业道德. 

 

Is there something you learned from failure that helped propel you forward?

Fajgenbaum: 我在很多事情上都失败了. 我想到的一个失败就是没能平衡好我的工作和非工作生活. 这是我至今仍在挣扎的事情, but I’ve used these failures to help me to be better at balancing the two. 另一次失败发生在高中, when despite working as hard as we could, 冰球突破豪华版试玩在州冠军赛中输了. 有时候你做的每件事都是对的，但你仍然没有得到你想要的结果，甚至没有得到你应得的结果, 但你必须坚持不懈.

King Edwards: 我从小就想成为一名药剂师. During my junior year in college, I did a summer internship at a local pharmacy. 实习后我意识到，虽然我真的很重视药剂师的重要性和作用, it did not align with my true passions. At the time this seemed like a huge fail, 因为我的大部分学术生涯都花在了与申请药学院相关的课程上. 当我意识到职业并不适合我时，我开始冰球突破豪华版试玩其他能激发我激情的选择. This is what led me to community engagement and public health.

Potter: 在我的道路上有很多障碍, 当我面对挑战的态度或观点需要调整的时候，或者当我的目标需要改变的时候. I had to pay for part of college and all of graduate school out of my own pocket, 那时候压力很大——我同时做多份工作，最后在课堂上真的很挣扎. 我不确定我是否能完成我的学位，因为我付不起学费. I opened up to my boss and she convinced me to ask for help. My university ended up providing me with a grant. 这对我来说是一个重要的学习时刻:理解脆弱和寻求帮助的重要性, 知道你可以通过努力和决心完成的事情与你只需要重新调整和寻求帮助的事情之间的区别.

 

你的下一步计划是什么?

Fajgenbaum: I’ve recently launched a project called CORONA to search for existing drugs that can be repurposed against COVID-19.

King Edwards: 我的目标是继续努力创造一种人人都有机会茁壮成长的健康文化! 我真的很喜欢在NC DHHS工作, 因此，我的下一步行动是争取在部门内担任领导角色或职位.

Potter: I just finished my graduate degree recently, 所以我想继续工作一段时间，然后再回到学校去获得某种博士学位(医学院vs. a Ph.D. versus a DrPH). 我希望有一天能有更多的机会指导或管理疫情，并在疫情准备和应对方面做更多的实地工作.

 

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