Audra Gaikowski, ‘20
Why did you choose to come to UMR? Originally I planned on going Pre-Physician Assistant (PA) route and UMR seemed like the perfect place to focus on my studies necessary for PA school.
What did your Capstone experience at UMR involve? For my Capstone I spent nine months in Quito, Ecuador doing the Minnesota Studies in International Development Ecuador program with an emphasis in public health. While in Quito, I spent three months in the classroom, taking Spanish, history and public health courses. I then spent two months doing an internship with an organization called la Secretaria de Salud where I worked on calculating and analyzing various adolescent and maternal health outcomes. Lastly, I spent four months conducting an independent research project with guidance from my internship site and school on the topic of teenage pregnancy, the social determinants of health that influence teenage pregnancy and the prevention methods being done for teenage pregnancy in a neighborhood called Cotocollao, a neighborhood with the highest teenage pregnancy rates. All of this culminated in a 57-page research report. For my last of three semesters in Capstone, I was at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus working towards a minor in public health.
How did your Capstone experience prepare you for your future in what you’re currently doing? My Capstone experience gave me the opportunity to practice my second language (Spanish), in which I am now proficient. Also, it gave me the opportunity to conduct independent, qualitative research, which allowed me to understand research from a very different perspective than what I had previously been exposed to. My experience abroad also deepened my passion for women's health and health equity, which is a passion that I carry to this day. This, combined with my classroom experience on the Twin Cities campus, prepared me for my next step: graduate school.
What are you currently doing? I currently work as an Assistant Clinic Manager at the Epidemiology Clinical Research Center (ECRC). The ECRC is located within the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the School of Public Health, which is also where I attend graduate school. I am a first-year student in the Maternal and Child Health Masters of Public Health program.