Ngozi Nwabueze is a senior majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. She was awarded a Spring 2019 Conference Grant which she used to attend the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Conference.
I had an amazing experience at the 2ndannual Georgia Clinical and Translational Science (CTAS) Conference. My work with Dr. Srikant Rangaraju (check out our lab website here) has been my greatest lab experience in undergrad in terms of gaining independence. I started at the lab in the summer before my senior year at Emory, after having been in two labs on campus beforehand and one lab back home in Louisiana. My goal was simple: to present a poster of my work. It didn’t matter where or how to me, as long as I gained enough independence to do this. Through the Rangaraju Lab, I have presented at several conferences and symposiums, and was even featured in a short talk at one conference. It’s great to be able to surpass my research goals, and the CTAS conference was my chance to highlight this accomplishment once more.
Perhaps that most rewarding part of attending the conference: I was able to truly explore my interest in clinical and translational research for the first time. All of the talks, posters, and conversations at the conference that centered around clinical and translational science were of such immense interest to me—it surprised me to field a place in research where I felt that my mind fit so naturally. Coming from a background in the basic sciences, I never quite connected with topics like I felt I should have. I didn’t know how deeply my interests lie in clinical and translational research. This conference gave me the confidence to KNOW that this is something I want to pursue in my medical career, and for that, I am so grateful. I was able to receive great advice on my future in healthcare from faculty at Emory, Morehouse, UGA, and other health-related careers. The trainee mentoring session at the end of the first night helped me answer questions that I didn’t even know that I had. I talked with experienced professionals about navigating the peer-review process, working with a faculty mentor, and incorporating public health into my career. In being the only undergraduate student to attend the conference, I felt as if I was getting a “leg-up” in obtaining this advice. I was able to hone my expertise and interests with experts in the field—at the very least with people who are a lot further along than me. Being in such a setting really can make one excited for what the future can hold in terms of research, healthcare, and academia.
When it came time to present my poster, it was challenging to have to field difficult questions regarding my specific study, but at the same time helped me grow in articulating the research that I had been conducting. My study is still in the early stages of obtaining results, so I hope that by the end of the semester, I will have a more intricate display of results to discuss. Although I know that I will soon be moving on from basic sciences and into clinical research, I gained many useful skills by achieving and surpassing my research goals. I can articulate my scientific findings—which, trust me, was no easy task for me when I first started out. I know what I love and am most excited about in science, which boils down to essentially anything that can be translated into observable behavior. Admittedly, it took me awhile to find that I had this interest. Even after that, it took still longer for me to become unapologetic about this preference over the basic sciences. However, my journey in research has made me confident about my interests, and passionate about what I am doing and about what I hope to accomplish in the future.
Visit the Undergraduate Research Programs website to learn more about applying for Conference Grants.
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