While successful the Dominican Republic her sophomore year, 2016 alum Emily Dunbar had a revelation.
She was determination with her classmates successful a Sophomore Scholars successful Residence people called the Business of Science. They were moving with a section enactment connected a cervical crab screening project. Like Dunbar, fractional of the students were concern majors. The different fractional were studying science.
In mentation for the trip, the people looked astatine however concern principles could beryllium applied to aesculapian attraction successful agrarian and low-resource areas to supply amended — and much sustainable —healthcare.
“That’s what the people was shedding airy on: How could we assistance low-resource settings bash the astir with what they person to unrecorded healthier lives?”
While the travel helped Dunbar amended recognize the intersection of concern and science, she besides realized determination was an accidental for her to enactment successful that mediate space. When Dunbar archetypal came to Richmond, she planned to large successful biology, but the laboratory requirements conflicted with her signifier docket arsenic a subordinate of the women’s tennis team. She brainstormed with her household and world advisors and decided connected accounting — a subject she could use successful immoderate vocation field.
But Dunbar’s travel to the Dominican Republic renewed her involvement successful medicine, and she saw a accidental to harvester the two. She continued to gain a B.S. successful accounting but besides completed each of the prerequisites for aesculapian school.
After graduation, she landed a occupation with EY and became a CPA portion continuing to research her options successful medicine. Soon after, she took a relation arsenic an EMT with the Richmond Ambulance Authority, wherever she saw parallels to her SSIR experience.
“Working arsenic an exigency medicine work provider, you person constricted resources,” Dunbar said. “We person a constricted magnitude of medicine oregon equipment. While it’s not balancing a spreadsheet, there’s inactive a mindset of improving outcomes successful a limited-resource situation.”
Dunbar is present successful her 3rd twelvemonth astatine Virginia Commonwealth University’s aesculapian school. Her accounting position continues to service her.
“In the U.S., it’s casual to deliberation astir concern and profit,” Dunbar said. “But really, the cardinal thought of concern is however to marque the astir of what you have.”