My name is Izzy Bowser, and I am a Biological Sciences major on the pre-med track in the class of 2026. I am minoring in Chemistry and Hispanic Language and Culture, as well as pursuing a certificate in Global Health. I am a Martinson Elevate Award recipient, and will be spending a month in San Jose, Costa Rica in June (International Studies Abroad Spanish Language & Latin American Culture).

I selected this program, since I want to improve my spanish language and cultural skills. I am very passionate about combatting healthcare inequalities in terms of making healthcare more accessible to marginalized communities, as well as working to break the Spanish language barrier for patients in the United States healthcare system.

I have previously worked as a medical assistant, shadowed in inter-city hospitals, researched the importance of Spanish Language in Medicine as a high school capstone project, and have worked in research surrounding socially equitable care by understanding patient resource engagement in Philadelphia. I currently work as a Clinical Trials Research Assistant in critical care medicine for the MACRO organization at UPMC Presbyterian hospital.

Through my ISA study abroad experience, I hope to improve my language and cultural knowledge and work hard to continue my path towards trilinguality. This will help me in my future career as I work to become a certified trilingual provider for my future patients and help break down the language barrier in the United States Healthcare system.