How have ideas and innovations for global impact and health equity influenced three Rice360 alumni’s careers?
To explore this topic, Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies welcomed back three alumni for our first-ever alumni panel. Dr. Alex Bonnel '10, Christine Luk '18, and Christina Lagos Triantaphyllis '08 each shared insights from their careers on how an educational background in global health shaped their career trajectories and motivated them to explore health innovation in the context of policy, medicine, and technology research.
Diverse career paths inspired by global health
All three speakers touched on how their career paths shifted from the "life plan" they had imagined while at Rice University. Lessons learned in their Global Health Technologies (GLHT) minor courses strengthened the values that guided them into successful careers.
Bonnel kicked off the panel and explained how failure is often the best teacher. Luk shared her journey, which led her to founding a firm that assists innovators in securing FDA approval for medical devices. Triantaphyllis offered insights from her career in public policy and on making meaningful change through evidence-based research.
Kiara Lee, Rice360's Director of Education Strategy and Assistant Teaching Professor, moderated the event and asked the speakers questions submitted by current GLHT students and the audience.
Where are they now?
Dr. Alex Bonnel '10 graduated from Rice with a global health minor and participated in an internship in Botswana as part of Rice360. Immediately following undergrad, he applied for medical school and was waitlisted--one of the "failures" he described overcoming in his presentation. During this transition period, he moved into research, which he attributes to broadening his experience in the field and expanding his skill set. Following his work as a researcher, he applied again to medical school and was accepted to Baylor College of Medicine, from which he graduated in 2015. He matched to the Internal Medicine residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His residency eventually led him back to Botswana, where he saw significant improvements in the care facilities compared to his first visit as an intern with Rice360. Today, Bonnel volunteers outside of his medical practice to provide healthcare to underserved populations and teaches ultrasound use to healthcare providers in resource-limited settings through the Penn Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) organization. He is proud to have continued contributing to global health in meaningful ways and sees his contributions as directly inspired by his experiences at Rice360.
Christine Luk '18 graduated from Rice with a minor in global health. She attributes her time working abroad with Rice360 in clinical settings as the start of her passion for helping medtech innovators successfully navigate the pathway of a prototype to market. After completing her undergraduate studies, Christine went on to receive a Master of Bioengineering from Rice. She currently leads a team of associates and specialists who research, strategize, and compose documentation for clients to gain FDA approval. She said that finding Rice360 at the college fair and everything that unfolded from there has shaped her non-linear career path and enabled her to problem-solve for her clients through her impactful work.
Christina Lagos Triantaphyllis '08 graduated from Rice University, and her career pivoted from her original plan to attend medical school. Instead, she attended graduate school at Harvard University with a concentration in public health. After graduating, she became a leader in advising groups to support positive impact and guide public investment through evidence-based research. Her work is rooted in experiences during her undergraduate days at Rice. At Rice, she co-founded PAIR (Partnership for the Advancement and Immersion of Refugees), a non-profit providing educational services for resettled refugee youth. She also participated in a summer internship focused on HIV outreach in Africa with Rice360, where she had what she called a “pivotal realization” that medical school was not for her. She encouraged the students to be open to the experiences along the way that inform their values and to let those values guide them.
All three alumni exemplify how a passion for global health continues to shape their experiences well into their careers. We thank Christine, Alex, and Christina for joining us and sharing their experiences innovating for global health equity!