Hi! My name is Grace Donato and I am a rising junior at the University of Pittsburgh. I am currently majoring in Molecular Biology and am planning on pursuing a career in medicine. I am also minoring in Chemistry and earning the Conceptual Foundations of Medicine certificate. In my free time, I enjoy playing piano, crocheting, exercising, hammocking, and listening to music! I am also an avid coffee drinker and a Saxby’s fanatic.

This May, I will be traveling to northern India with the Himalayan Health program at Pitt. I chose this program because of the unique opportunities it provides for personal and academic growth. I am looking forward to taking the classes offered by the program – Mountain and Medicine and Wilderness First Responder. I can barely contain my excitement for the first-hand learning opportunities on this program, such as shadowing a local hospital, practicing emergency medicine techniques through simulations, and of course, lots of hiking! As an individual aspiring to become a healthcare professional one day, I believe that seeing different approaches to medicine is essential to becoming a well-rounded individual in a clinical setting. 

Through the Himalayan Health program, I believe that I will gain knowledge of public health in India, emergency medicine skills, and a broader perspective of the world from these courses. I am so grateful to Dr. Alter and Akshay Shah for organizing the program and for the opportunity to attend the trip. I look forward to sharing what I have learned throughout the course of this program, as well as many, many photos of India’s beautiful landscape!