Ana Paula is originally from São Paulo, Brazil. She received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University and now she is a medical student at Boston University School of Medicine (Class of 2025). Ana is passionate about public health, research, community service, technology in medicine, and healthcare improvement. During her undergraduate years, she conducted research on Wolbachia, a bacteria with the potential to prevent the spread of human diseases such as dengue and zika. As a Freshman, while working on Public Health projects in Honduras’ underserved communities, Ana found her passion for community service. She started volunteering in multiple NGOs, at Boston Children’s Hospital, and became a Community Empowerment program manager at BU’s Community Service Center.</p><p>Throughout college, Ana always stayed connected to her country, let that be organizing cultural Brazilian events on campus, creating educational and leadership opportunities for students as a board member of the global Brazilian Student Association (BRASA), or organizing conferences with leaders from Brazil and the world as a team member of the Brazil Conference. As a Junior, she worked as a Performance Improvement Intern at the Cambridge Health Alliance, and after graduation, she took a gap year and interned at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, working on a project aiming to reduce the maternal mortality rate in Brazilian public hospitals. Talk to Ana if you have questions about research, volunteering, pre-med experience as an international student and living in Boston!