Studying Public Health at St. Luke’s has led to a career beyond my expectations!

After completing my undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences, I was struggling to find my niche in healthcare despite my continued interest in medicine and healthcare. As I was contemplating my career path, I learned of an Open Campus event being held at St. Luke’s and eagerly registered for it. While attending the event, I had the epiphany that studying Public Health was exactly what I was looking for, providing me comprehensive understanding and holistic approaches to medicine and healthcare.
In my second year, I did an internship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the U. S., where I had the opportunity to learn about pediatric oncology. This firsthand experience of the front lines and the people who work there gave me an opportunity to think deeply about my own career.
Fortunately, after completing the program, I received two career opportunities: epidemiologist specialist at the Hawaii State Department Health and admission to a doctoral program in Nursing Practice at the University of Hawaii. After much deliberation, I chose to pursue my education, and am currently studying to become a nurse practitioner* in the doctoral program at the University of Hawaii. Through my studies in public health, I have acquired the skills to think not only from the perspective of “curing” disease, but also from the perspective of the entire environment surrounding the patient, and I believe that this job is the perfect place for me to put these skills to use. In the future, I would like to devote myself to becoming a nurse practitioner who conducts research in addition to clinical practice.
*Nurse Practitioner: An American nursing certification that allows a nurse practitioner to perform a certain level of diagnosis and treatment without a physician’s order.

March 2022