Alumni Update: Where are they now?
Name: Ashley Wofford
Degree(s) Received: BA, Neuroscience;
Minor in Gerontology
Job title: Medical Student
Company: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Location (city and state): Chapel Hill, NC
Please briefly describe your position and your company:
I’ll be a first-year medical student beginning in August 2007. I hope to become a neurologist, and my interest there is in neurodegenerative disease. I’m interested in doing research at a later point & also participating in political advocacy for senior health care.
Why did you choose to study gerontology at the USC Davis School?
Growing up, I had a lot of exposure to older people, and I was interested in the welfare of our seniors – an incredibly interesting and animated group. I knew I was interested in improving their quality of life, but wasn’t sure how; I knew I wanted to minor in gerontology before I’d chosen my major!
How did you learn about your current position? Was it through an internship, a previous job, or a connection through USC?
I discovered my interest in medicine (instead of law/politics) through coursework taken at USC in the gerontology and biology departments, particularly in the neurobiology course offerings, during my sophomore year.
Please briefly describe how the USC Davis School’s curriculum helped prepare you for your current position.
The curriculum has helped me have a more balanced perspective regarding healthcare and aging, and this will only help me as I enter the medical field. The classes in the minor also helped me determine exactly how I wanted to go about improving life conditions for seniors.
What advice would you offer to a prospective student interested in studying gerontology at USC?
All students (gero or not!) should take GERO437. Classes like this are the ones that really help students discover new perspectives and break out of the molds we were told to fit throughout high school. Study gerontology because you love it and are genuinely interested in it, not just because you think it will help you gain a leg up later on. I would also encourage them to get more involved in the GSA. I was not able to because of class scheduling conflicts (every semester!), but the students I knew who were involved with it always spoke highly of it and they sponsor great events time & time again.
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