Member Spotlight: Gabriela Cruz-Mattos
This week’s AED Member Spotlight is Gabriela Cruz-Mattos! She is a junior Health Science Studies Major on the Pre-Medicine track. She is super passionate about global health and is looking to get into an MD/MPH program after her time at Baylor. Gabriela joined AED in the Spring of 2021 and is now one of our Networking Chairs! Specifically, she collaborates with the Office of Engaged Learning to help connect AED members to opportunities such as internships, fellowships, scholarships, grants, and much more! Her favorite part of being in AED is the ability to work with and get to know other dedicated students with the same pre-professional goals she has.
This summer, Gabriela was changing the world all the way in Germany at an internship with the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) Command Surgeon’s Office in Stuttgart, Germany. The Command Surgeon’s Office is in charge of ensuring that military personnel are ready and safe to be deployed into Africa. In addition, they have had the added responsibility of being in charge of COVID protocols for the military base there in Germany. They also play a significant role in leading the fight against Malaria in Africa. As an intern, Gabriela got to work on a number of fascinating and impactful projects related to her interests in global health. Firstly, she attended the Africa Malaria Task Force (AMTF) key engagement conference. From this conference, she wrote an article about the 2-day global health event where leaders from the US and Africa came together to discuss plans about current Malaria research and action steps. Secondly, Gabriela worked on a mental health aeromedical evacuation analysis, essentially looking at the demographics of the military personnel that were brought back from deployment and the specific connections to their mental health and the support provided. Lastly, she was a part of a team that went through Global Emerging Infections Surveillance (GEIS) proposals. This involved going through 60 proposals from over 30 countries to determine which ones were the most urgent and important to receive significant amounts of government funding for their research. Through this internship, Gabriela got to see what it looks like to be a part of military medicine in a clinical and administrative environment. She was also able to network with professionals that can mentor her throughout her future career goal steps.
Her advice to other AED members is to take advantage of everything our organization has to offer such as friendships, academic opportunities, events, and networking possibilities. Outside of AED, Gabriela is also a Health Science Studies Ambassador and a Genetics LA. For fun, she loves cooking with her roommates and is a coffee enthusiast. She just got a new espresso machine and has become the apartment barista for her roommates and friends. Gabriela is one example of the accomplished and fun members that make up AED!
Written by Jasmine Hartman Budnik