Hi! My name is Carmen Pastrana, and I am from Chicago, Illinois. I plan on majoring in Biology (maybe Microbiology) with a minor in African and African American Studies. I spent much of my high school experience studying race relations and the perpetual issue of racism in the United States healthcare system. I found that even the most basic of health protocols and curricula encourage race-based medicine. My mother works in healthcare as the head of a Black care initiative for patients with Kidney Disease. Her work to help Black diabetes patients and expose racially motivated medicine has inspired me to continue digging and hopefully fix many things along the way. I grew up with an autoimmune disease and have learned to appreciate the difficulty of patient care, the importance of listening to your body and finding a care team who will do the same, and the vitality of trusting the health system I rely on. My childhood experience in the medical community generated my interest with the field of medicine. It inspired me to embark on a year-long research project my senior year with Stanford University to influence the genome of fruit flies as research for human gene editing. My introduction to the discipline of lab work fascinated me, and I knew my future must be spent making a difference in medicine both through patient care and from behind the microscope. I hope to immerse myself in medical research and change the course of future medicine for the people in marginalized communities which are so often forgotten.
“Being a Cardea Fellow means surrounding yourself with people who genuinely want you to succeed and help you reach all of your goals. Cardea provides a community of students striving to make a change, not by themselves, but as a unified group that is never satisfied with the status quo.”
