I am a Clinical Research Coordinator at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in sunny Orlando. I am also lucky enough to act as the Tissue Navigator here for Gift from a Child. I grew up around the healthcare field helping my grandmother clean and file charts at a local OB/GYN office where she worked as a receptionist. When I was a teenager, I lost her to pancreatic cancer. Driving her to chemotherapy appointments and watching her doctors and nurses care for her is what initially sparked my interest in getting involved in healthcare myself.
Since that time, I graduated from Brigham Young University–Idaho in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology. I first got into clinical research just before graduation as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Rocky Mountain Clinical Research in Idaho working in diabetes research. It was there that I first got to work with children. I enjoyed interacting with and providing care to all my patients; however, I must admit that when you work with children, there is just something about what you are doing that feels a little more special. So, when I saw the posting for a position in cancer research at a children’s hospital, I jumped at the opportunity to answer that call.
Here at Arnold Palmer Hospital, we have developed a Neuro-Oncology Translational Lab, which allows our internal team to also collect tissue samples from surgeries and autopsies. This gives us the opportunity to grow cell lines, observe and test the characteristics of different tumor types, and collaborate with other institutions as we strive to give every child diagnosed with a brain or spinal cord tumor a fighting chance at a better and longer life.