Growing up, I struggled with my health as a result of severe food allergies and a lack of culturally and language-proficient providers. Biochemistry provided me with the means to make sense of the molecular reactions governing the makeup of the body. To think that the allergic reactions I had growing up were chains of chemical reactions within my cells. Today I use the knowledge of my degree to help others with their understanding of the molecular mechanisms that make the world.
I chose this major because I love both biology and chemistry, and biochemistry is the perfect middle ground between them. If you love chemistry and biology, I definitely recommend the major as it is a surefire way to develop your knowledge in all of the sciences and math.
If a student wants to learn about more than just the cell and its structures, and truly understand the big picture, this major is the one for them. I have been able to learn more about the chemical processes that dictate our lives, and how important they are. Through my classroom experiences and research experience with Dr. Michael Abdelsayed, including his belief in me as a potential graduate student, I have developed a passion for going further into the life sciences.
I was a patient not long ago, and it allowed me to value my team of doctors much more and learn from them. As I became healthier, I began furthering my interests in medicine and patient care by volunteering at hospitals. I am incredibly thankful to now work at Los Robles Regional Medical Center as a Certified Nursing Assistant where I am surrounded by a great team of professionals and focus on direct patient care.
I would recommend biochemistry for any student that wants to understand more about the basic building blocks of life. Learning some of the concepts at first can be frustrating, but it is really rewarding to be able to apply them in a lab setting outside of lectures. I am also an applied scientific computing minor and am learning science communication skills that can be applied to many career paths, such as medicine, science journalism and quality control. This will allow me to have more options for career paths after I graduate and aid me in my further studies as a biochemistry major.
As a Latina in STEM, I would like to have an impact on improving human health and combating diseases, and believe the knowledge and skills I am receiving at Cal Lutheran will definitely nurture that goal of mine. I wholeheartedly recommend biochemistry and molecular biology to future students at Cal Lutheran.
The more you immerse yourself in the science language and basic theories the easier it is to learn more and develop critical thinking strategies to help with upper-division studies. My advice is to stick with it no matter how challenging a stem major can get, you will surprise yourself with what you can accomplish if you truly have a passion for science.
The first thing I tell any pre-med student I meet is to discover if this is really the field you want to pursue by working in clinics or the hospital because I always say, “How can you know that you want to be a doctor if you have yet to experience what it’s like to be a doctor?”
My research was focused on identifying mutations in common canine cancers and examining how they relate to human cancers.
I’m an OMS-I at LECOM pursuing a degree in Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.). I am also funding my education through a military scholarship as a Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force (which I highly recommend to any aspiring docs, by the way).