幸福之路

Health is more than a science to Anabelle Marie Conde ’23—it’s a path you walk with the people around you.

A biochemistry 和 molecular biology major on thes pre-med track from Houston, TX, Conde’s journey to 和 through 圣赌博平台网站大全 has led her towards a future in educational medicine. 

“在纸上, my life looks like a straightforward path, but there were all those ups 和 downs in emotions that I've learned a lot from,她说。. “在赌博娱乐平台网址大全, the biggest difference for me has been being able to figure out what worked best to keep myself happy 和 healthy.”

康德的高点? 对于初学者来说, winning the William Crews McGavock Award for Outst和ing 研究—an honor established in 1974 by chemistry alumni in honor of Professor William Crews McGavock that goes to the graduating chemistry seniors with the best 整体 record of academic excellence 和 achievement. 下一个, being accepted into UT Health 圣安东尼奥's Long School of Medicine 和 getting to stay in 圣安东尼奥, 周围都是朋友, 她最喜欢的食物, 一个支持性的社区.

在赌博娱乐平台网址大全, Conde has learned that the pathway to happiness 和 health is one that Tigers get to make while supported by dedicated faculty, an engaging set of experiential opportunities 和 academic resources, 和 a pre-med environment where excellence can be inclusive 和 同时也很有竞争力.

Conde (far left) with her close-knit group of fellow researchers in Dr. 科瑞娜·梅德的实验室.

找到坚实的立足点

When choosing a college as a high school senior, Conde knew medicine was in her future. “我有一个生病的哥哥, 和 so that kind of exposed me to what the power of medicine can be,她说。.

Conde originally came to 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 looking for a school where she could both swim 和 join an academically challenging environment. A star 200-meter 和 500-meter freestyler in high school, Conde kept up with her success on 赌博娱乐平台网址大全’s swim team, adding the mile to her list of events. 

But as Conde began to experience some highs 和 lows in the midst of a rigorous biochemistry 和 molecular biology curriculum, she eventually left the team her junior year to focus on her pre-med track 和 keep herself healthy 和 happy. 这对康德来说很艰难, 谁说, “the swim team was a really special place to be able to start my time at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全—to compete for this school 和 then to form friendships that I otherwise wouldn't have.”

At 赌博娱乐平台网址大全, chemistry students have a dem和ing road placed ahead of them. “I knew that I wanted to pursue a pre-med route, 和 I originally thought I wanted to major in math,康德解释道. “But I found all of my chemistry courses were so interesting 和 relevant, 和 once I started getting to know some of the chemistry faculty I was like, ‘OK, 这个部门对我来说很合适.’”

So, why study a tough subject like chemistry in 赌博娱乐平台网址大全’s liberal arts environment?

“I feel the liberal arts have definitely made me just more aware, 整体, around the fact that medicine isn't just straight science,康德说. “You don’t just learn the anatomy 和 the diseases. There are so many more social factors, 历史因素, that go into it that I probably wouldn't have been exposed to had I 没有 this more all-encompassing liberal arts education.”

From courses in sociology 和 religion, 康德说 she drew inspiration 和 perspective from “those bits 和 pieces of everything else that surrounds science that is 也 医学的一部分.”

Conde, second from right, presents research as part of Dr. 科瑞娜maed(右)的实验室.

实验室合作伙伴 

康德说 she’s found similar—和 equally important—sources of perspective 和 discovery  in her research lab. 赌博娱乐平台网址大全，也就是 nationally ranked for Undergraduate 研究 和 Creative Projects, places an emphasis on experiential opportunities as a way for students like Conde to make an immediate impact on the fields they study.

“I knew coming into 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 that I’d like the chance to develop myself as a scientist 和 put what I'm learning in courses into practice by figuring out problems in the lab,康德说.

What makes labs at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 so special? Beyond the small-school class sizes merged with the technology 和 resources of a larger university, 肯定是教职工.

“I’ve never been in a class at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 where I have 没有 a supportive professor,康德说. “让我印象深刻的是 Dr. 科瑞娜maed, who’s actually my [primary investigator], 和 I work in her lab, 和 Dr. 克里斯蒂娜·厄尔, who is 也 just a fantastic professor who brings so much excitement to her courses about the subject while teaching it to us. And she's just a fun person to have for class.”

What makes faculty like Cooley 和 Maeder special? The fact they’re here to do research 与…合作 本科生.

“当我开始在博士. maed的实验室, I was actually taking her ‘Biochemistry I’ course, so I got to know her both as a student in her class 和 as a student in her lab,康德说. “She's been a mentor throughout my time here ever since then.”

With Maeder, Conde studies RNA splicing, or more specifically, the RNA processing of proteins. Conde is working on the human version of a splicing protein, called hDim1. “基本上, our lab looks at different mutations to this protein to see how it affects splicing, 和 then I'm working to determine the mechanism of a particular reaction of this protein,康德说.

正确的结果

As any student in a research lab knows, this type of work is not always smooth sailing.

“My issue in the lab has definitely been me being able to replicate my results,康德说. “My project was one that several previous lab members had taken on before. They would have initial luck, but then would start having issues with replication. 然后我接手了, 果然如此, 我得到了我想要的初步结果, 但到了复制的时候, 它没有复制.”

在这样艰难的时刻, 赌博娱乐平台网址大全 students aren’t ab和oned by their faculty 和 labmates—they have a network of support. “We’re been troubleshooting our protocols 和 even figuring out how to fit a protocol that we got from a colleague of Dr. Maeder’s specifically to work with our project in the lab,康德说.

This is the team-based philosophy that 康德说 you’ll find across entire departments at 赌博娱乐平台网址大全, not just if you luck into getting the right professor.

“我认为所有的教员, especially in the biology 和 chemistry departments, 都是非常有用的资源, not just for specific problems in class or lab, 但即使是[课程内容], making sure that you are aware of what courses you need to take 和 what the path is that you’re going down,康德说. 

That’s the big plus about赌博娱乐平台网址大全’s pre-med track, which is smaller in size than pre-med programs at other schools. 学生 work alongside the faculty who might one day write their med school letters of recommendation.

And this team mentality 也 cultivates an environment among pre-med students that is collaborative, 而不是残酷无情.

“As soon as you figure out you wanna be pre-med, you're gonna meet a lot of helpful professors 和 helpful students,康德说. “Not only have professors been a very helpful resource for my pre-med journey but 也 for upperclassmen 和 people who have gone through the process before me. And the group of us biochemistry 和 molecular biology students is not very big, 所以它变得非常紧密, especially as we've gotten to our senior year 和 have shared all that time. So, I don't know if these types of academics would've been as enjoyable somewhere else.”

Academic departments aren’t the only sources of happiness 和 health for individual students like Conde.

As a first-year, Conde 太k full advantage of resources like the 定量推理与技巧 (QRS)辅导中心, 赌博娱乐平台网址大全的一站式, drop-in support shop for all subjects 和 courses that involve a quantitative aspect. Nestled in the Tiger Learning Commons section of Coates 图书馆, 康德说, the QRS “has kind of had a special place in my heart. I used it my freshman year, trying to get through my math courses 和 general chemistry at the time.”

现在, the tables have turned for Conde: “I work there, 希望, I'm able to help other students get through their math 和 chemistry courses in the same way that I did. Dr. (路加福音)汤斯顿 首长〔质量调查〕, 我现在是他的同伴导师, so being able to work with him is 也 just another really great experience with faculty here.”

下一步

现在, Conde is heading out into the world to help more people—和 to keep making new discoveries about herself 和 the world around her.

“I'm going to the Long School of Medicine here in 圣安东尼奥, so I definitely want to keep going with research,她说。. “当我还是医学院学生的时候, I 也 want to explore research at UT Health 圣安东尼奥 和 see what that could bring me.”

康德说 the path she wants to walk—和 the way she wants to help others stay healthy 和 happy—is through teaching. “That’s most of what my time in a lab has taught me about myself—that I enjoy teaching. So, the most definitive thing I can say about pursuing medicine is I want to pursue academic medicine.”

经历她的高潮和低谷, 康德说 the one constant in her success has been the people around her: “研究 gives you the power to make things better, but so does face-to-face interactions 和 people skills when you’re talking about being able to affect someone's life directly. 将其运用到教学中, when you are face-to-face with someone, you [can] make a connection with them 和 help them on their path: That makes a difference, 太.”