PERSONAL STATEMENT
Research Training Experience and Relevant Skills
My interest in understanding the relationships between urban and community planning and health led me to complete graduate training in urban planning and public health. This path gave me the opportunity to study and apply epidemiological research methods to a range of topics on the social and environmental determinants of health, including, behavioral health, infectious disease and chronic disease outcomes. My professional and research experience cuts across multiple fields, including environmental sciences, geographic information system, community health, and epidemiology. My rigorous, broad-based academic background and professional experience prepared me well for a successful career in environmental health sciences and epidemiology.
Short-term Academic and Research Objectives
Over the next three BCM academic years (July, 2018 – June 2021), I will continue work on ongoing projects (including those in my “Research Activities”). I will develop at least two NIH R01 applications as principal investigator, the first will be submitted in June 2019 and the second in February 2020. I will participate in other grant opportunities based on time/effort availability, and prepare minimum of five first-author manuscripts (listed activities are provided in a timeline—see “Research Activities” Appendix). Over the next five years, my general academic and research objectives are to continue pursuing my environmental health and chronic disease epidemiology interests at the BCM.
Long-term Career Objectives and Plan
My major career goal is to build a successful well-established research program in the field of environmental health and chronic disease epidemiology while becoming an independently funded investigator. The research context that is of most interest to me include the epidemiology of the environmental determinants of health measured at the geographic level, and where possible, observed through the lens of the social determinants of health. Overall, my academic and research training has given me a sophisticated understanding of epidemiological research that is reinforced by a deep knowledge of environmental health science. I look forward to a successful research career, and feel confident that I am pursuing a path that will take me there.