Ashley Alcantar Magana

Neuroscience, Chemistry & Latino Studies in the Global South certificate

Hi! My name is Ashley Alcantar Magana, and I'm from Oakwood, Georgia. I intend to major in Neuroscience, minor in Chemistry, and complete the Latino Studies in the Global South (LSGS) certificate. My interest in these fields is due to a number of experiences - being the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a member of a mixed status family, growing up in a town with a fast-growing Hispanic/Latinx community, and an elementary encounter with the brain and its anatomy during my fifth grade enrichment class. Indeed, after witnessing firsthand the negative impact language, cultural, and socioeconomic barriers can have for those seeking health care or validation about their medical concerns, I have sought to learn more about the social determinants of health, the role of bias in medicine, and the best approaches to patient-oriented care. This pursuit led to my introduction to shadowing health professionals and translation in medical settings.
   
Now at Duke, I strive to continue to explore the fields of science and how they can better serve the communities around me. To this end, I have participated in research aiming to analyze disparities in mental health care affecting the Latino population, improve methodology used to interrogate Parkinson's disease pathology, understand the emergence of social identity features in early childhood, and interrogate the development of certain neural circuits of the cerebral cortex. I volunteer with the Spanish-speaking community in Durham as a Help Desk community resource navigator and site coordinator at the Lincoln Community Health Center, serve as the co-president of Duke Define America, and am a member of Kidz Vote, Duke HAND, and Duke ABC. I also work in the Romance Studies department and am a project coder for a Duke Health study that assesses the employment of empathic communication by oncologists. In my free time, I enjoy reading, trying new foods, binging TV shows, and curating Spotify playlists. I am eager to continue these experiences and see how they might influence my choice of medical speciality in the future.