As I applied and matriculated through medical school, I realized a few things:

• Medical school was expensive, and there wasn’t a lot of support outside of student loans 
• Many people don’t know about neuroscience as a viable career
• Neurology isn’t a required core rotation in some medical schools, which continues to minimize exposure until after people have already decided on a career path.

When thinking about the overwhelming amount of debt that most medical students carry, I knew that one day, I wanted to start a scholarship program to help students that were interested in medical school. As I learned more about the lack of neurology and neuroscience exposure for so many medical students, that mission morphed into wanting to support underrepresented medical students and residents in the neurosciences through scholarships. 

In addition to helping change the field of neuroscience through scholarship, I am also passionate about education and health equity for those suffering from neurologic disorders. There’s work to be done, and thus our mission here at the Joi Life Foundation is to transform neuroscience through innovation and education to improve health equity.