Program News
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Coming to America:
My family and I immigrated to the US after my father had visited his sister in New Jersey and upon returning to Ukraine, he convinced my mother's family to relocate to the US. My mother's older brother and his family received visas before us, so they ended up in Kansas. They chose Kansas because my uncle's (older one) mother-in-law had already settled in Kansas in the late 70s. To get to America, we went from Odessa to Moscow, to Austria, to Italy and then to New Jersey (where my dad's sister lives with her family). We stayed in NJ for a bit but didn't like it and my mother missed her family so we went to Kansas. I decided to attend Drake because I was going to go to the Pharmacy school there, but then changed my mind to Psychology major, and then added Neuroscience major, then Biology minor. By the time graduation rolled around, I changed my academics to Biology major and Neuroscience major with Psychology minor. I learned about the CLS program at UIOWA during my 3rd year at Drake through my Biology advisor. I was really interested in laboratory detection and epidemiology after taking Microbiology and Parasitology at Drake and so after 3rd year I went to visit the Iowa program and Professor Junkins showed me the laboratory at Iowa. My education at CLS helped me in what I'm doing now because it was the foundation for my job at the St. Luke's Hospital. The program was inspiring, especially what Linda Fell had to say about her travels in Africa and setting up laboratories (If my memory is correct). I did receive the Imogene Fisher award.
Also, I really appreciate both you and the instructors supporting my decision to do one of my rotations at the hospital in Israel, that also allowed me to reach my goals. Actually, after I finish the MPH program I would like to work with public health programs specifically in refugee populations and humanitarian crises. I'm hoping to actually work with the International Medical Corps or another humanitarian organization in an internship this summer in DC, along with taking classes.
Katya Noykhovich