Public Health Research and Outreach

Public health has been one of my main areas of interest. I was trained by Dr. Luvenia “Vennie” Cowart at Syracuse University’s Department of Public Health (formerly the Department of Health and Wellness). As a nurse, she instilled her clinical knowledge and the nursing model of care throughout our work together. This combination of clinical applications and compassion for others are what solidified my foundation to pursue work in oncology research initiatives.

Under her program, The Genesis Health Project, we worked together to educate populations on ways to improve health outcomes over the course of their daily routines. Through research and program development, we sought out grant funding to develop health initiatives such as the family fitness program and nutrition education to tackle chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Our goal was to make health information engaging and easily digestible so that individuals will feel more confident with making decisions about their health. With this information, individuals can be more proactive and positive when taking charge of their personal health decisions.

We focused on the unique needs of individuals and groups and tailored information and activities to better suit them. I’ve been fortunate to continue working in this capacity to improve health literacy for diverse populations. This includes addressing language barriers and reducing anxiety for individuals asking questions relevant to their health. My style is to encourage open dialogue as we go over health information pertaining to their situation. Under her guidance and mentorship, I had also been a graduate assistant for her courses, HTW 307 Culturally Competent Healthcare and HTW 311/600 Health Literacy which provided me with a foundation for these topics.

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Regarding grant funding, I had worked together with Dr. Cowart on the following grants covering diabetes prevention and management (CDC Bronx and Excellus) and promoting entrepreneurship for underserved communities:

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (2009), $106,550

CDC Bronx Health REACH (2008), $35,000

Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative (2009), $12,000

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It was a great opportunity to continue this work with Delia Baquiran and the team at Breast Cancer Imperative. Community-based outreach guided by scientific approaches helped us educate individuals in the Philippine community on the importance of early detection measures through cancer screening and lifestyle interventions to promote overall positive health outcomes.

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The Path to Accounting

My first exposure to an accounting class was in my senior year of high school when I decided to take it as an elective. The teacher for the course, Mrs. P (who was also my homeroom teacher), was lightheartedly nudging me to sign up for the course when we, the seniors, were all choosing amongst the various electives being offered. I eventually chose accounting as one of the electives. She made the class incredibly engaging which gave me a solid foundation for accounting courses in the future. Mrs. P was your tough but caring Italian mother who genuinely wanted you to succeed. One fond memory was when she sang the the “Debits and Credits” song to the tune of Happy Birthday (which to this day, lives in my mind rent free haha).

It wasn’t until I engaged in the nonprofit and grant writing work that reignited my interest to formally pursue accounting at the graduate level. Then, when I had worked in tech and was given the responsibilities to manage our team’s spend through Airbase and Coupa in order to align with company initiatives, I knew that this was the time to pursue my Masters in Accountancy. It was such a great experience (albeit quite stressful at times), and the two years/six semesters flew by so quickly. I met a lot of great classmates, team members, and knowledgeable faculty who not only pushed me, but also helped with my success. One class in particular on governmental and nonprofit financial accounting with Dr. Jenny Ulla was one of my favorites since it was relevant and bridged my prior experience with the health nonprofits.

During my undergraduate and graduate paths, I focused on intersecting science and writing through program development and facilitation, outreach, and research. My main focus was to ensure that material was informative, comprehensive, and concise while engaging diverse audiences within the general population.

In order to hone my writing skills, I completed further training in journalism (focusing on scientific and technical writing). I targeted my focus on improving the quality of life for those affected by chronic illnesses through research, medical journalism, and developing strategies for funding programs which support positive change for these groups.

The other part of my work was to help more individuals become interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses or pursue STEM fields by minimizing any anxiety associated with courses such as microbiology or biostatistics. I founded and developed lecahierdekev in 2012 to break down concepts through subject focused handouts which aimed to make material more digestible.

My past experience with grant writing and current work in nonprofit volunteering and departmental budget and expense tracking had developed my interest to dive deeper into the foundations of financial planning and analysis. My recent experience is in the tech industry working for the educational technology company, Quizlet leading the asset management team within Content/Product (working closely with the amazing accounting department!) and overseeing our department’s spend management tools. I communicated and worked with teams from JP Morgan, Airbase, Coupa, and Upwork as the department’s point of contact along with setting up rewards for international participants through global platforms like Prezzee. I had also managed contractors through Deel and assisted them with onboarding and inquiries. This had expanded my professional interests into budgeting, forecasting, accounting analytics, taxation, compensation systems, and financial literacy.

Recently, I had completed both my Masters in Accountancy (May 2025) and Graduate Certificate in Taxation (December 2024) along with being a part of Beta Gamma Sigma at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Prior to this, I finished an Accounting Certificate at Cornell University’s eCornell (January 2023) and refresher courses at Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (Summer 2020). Currently, I am preparing and working towards the CPA licensure process. For professional development, I’m also working through courses in the Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst and Business Intelligence programs at the Corporate Finance Institute.

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Formal and Continuing Education

Throughout my work it has been a rewarding experience working with individuals whom I had taught or supervised. My main goal was to provide them with the experiences and skills which aligned with their future pursuits. I learned how important these professional relationships were from all of my mentors who had guided me throughout my education and career. I had gained a deep appreciation of the value that collaboration and active participation played when working together with communities to achieve a common goal. It has been a joy seeing my former direct reports grow and move on to the next chapter in their professional lives.

Diversity of viewpoints has always been a focal point throughout my work. We may not all hold similar viewpoints (and that’s perfectly okay), but it is important to respect others’ voices and work together to address key issues which we are currently tackling. Engaging in respectful dialogue is critical to ensure that each person’s ideas is taken into consideration. I value the feedback and input which have been brought to the table by my mentors, colleagues, and individuals whom I supervise, and I had learned a great deal from their thoughts whether or not we agreed on the approach.

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Former Direct Reports 🏆

Ian Hewitt, Alto Litigation, PC

Connor Leggett, UPSIDE Foods

Vanessa Thurlow, Graphic Audio, LLC. and Readymade Utopia

Kate Nikles, IDONTMIND and Readymade Utopia

Samuel Levit, DePaul University

Matt Lavine, Quizlet, Inc.

Lara Pur, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Christian Guzman, Penguin Random House

Sandra Mae Gonzales, SGV & Co. / EY Philippines

Ashish Sharma, ProRata.AI