Alyzea Benjamin

In 2020, my mother gave birth to my baby brother. I was riddled with anxiety the closer her due date came because I feared her skin color would be a barrier to her quality of care. I knew of the high mortality rate in black pregnant women. And I knew the cause was stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Racial and ethnic disparities across the American healthcare system solidified my interest in a career in medicine. However, my interest in medicine was first sparked as a young teen through Youtube. I was introduced to family and doctor channels that delved into reproductive health topics like pregnancy, fertility issues, and IVF. These topics piqued my interest and opened up potential career paths as an OB/GYN or pediatric specialist. My interest in medicine was also sparked in school and is intertwined with my love for science. For a long time, school has been an outlet for my love for understanding the human body. Learning about topics like genetics piqued my curiosity and opened up a potential career path as a geneticist. In college, my love for learning about the human body expanded to include human evolution. As an evolutionary anthropology major, I am interested in studying the morphological adaptations and behavior of premodern humans. I am currently completing research on premodern humans and macaques in a paleoanthropology lab on-campus. My love for learning about the human body, reproductive health, genetics, and evolutionary anthropology has motivated me to pursue a career in medicine. This career choice was solidified by my sense of purpose - to reduce the racial and ethnic disparities that corrupt the American healthcare system. My other involvements on-campus include Students of the Caribbean Association (SOCA) and Matriculate. I am working with SOCA to achieve our goal: reviving the Caribbean community at Duke. Caribbean students at Duke only make up only 0.6% of the student body population, so increasing our visibility on-campus is essential for providing an inclusive space. I am also working with Matriculate as a college advisor to guide low-income high school students through the college application process.