The Full Story

 My name is Zachary Travis and I am an undergraduate senior at the University of South Carolina. In May of 2020 I will be receiving my Bachelor’s of Science in Public Health with a minor in Spanish Language. During my four years at the University of South Carolina I have a taken advantage of a large variety of opportunities that have been presented to me and that has lead me to become involved in multiple student organizations as well as undergraduate research. In participating in this wide variety of organizations and research opportunities outside of the classroom I have attempted to make myself a well-read, diversely experienced, and culturally sensitive individual as I plan to pursue a career in medicine in the future. In June of 2020 I will begin working for We Are Sharing Hope SC, a nonprofit organ donation company. I will be working as a clinical donation specialist where I will be responsible, in part, for the procurement of organs from donors and the subsequent transport and delivery of organs to the recipients in various hospitals around the state of South Carolina. In this role, and in this time I take before enrolling in medical school I hope to gain valuable perspective and experience in a side of medicine in which I have very little. It is my belief that I will be a better physician in the future for having taken on this position.

 I created my e-portfolio for the Graduation with Leadership Distinction in Research pathway. In it, I showcase some of the research projects that I have worked on during my time as an undergraduate, as well as some of the insights I have taken from my classes that have allowed me to thrive in research. During one of my research projects my partner and I received funding to travel to Europe in order to study nutrition and access to healthy meals. We compared our findings to the same variables in the United States. By taking on this project my partner and I were able to use our Public Health education to complete a project and hopefully effect a change in nutrition wellbeing in the United States. We gained valuable insight while working on this project and it has lead each of us to create our e-portfolios.

My three key insights were built on the principals, ethics and experiences I gained while completing undergraduate research at the University of South Carolina. They are as follows: “Not all things public health are medicine but all things medicine are public health,” “Freshman Naivety Often Leads to Reflection as an Upperclassman,” and “Public Health is Universal.” In my leadership section I discuss an intervention program for prevention of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. This intervention program was an example of how a specific and targeted intervention using non-clinical techniques could eventually effect a change on a very grave medical condition. I have learned during my education, and now reflection on my time at the University of South Carolina that through research and observation, solutions to very difficult problems can be achieved. In observing and researching from cultures other than our own we are able to see things through a different lens, and apply diverse solutions to public health and medical problems alike.