The Precision Medicine Initiative, am I a doctor? No, I’m a CAPS Fellow. My first few weeks interning at Venn Strategies have been many things. It has been challenging, informative, exhausting, and so much more. I have found myself working on issues that truly matter to the betterment of our society. One of these projects is the Precisions Medicine Initiative. The Precision Medicine Initiative is a program started under the Obama administration. It is designed to expand the scope of medical testing to traditionally underrepresented communities to design new treatments that take into account gender, ethnicity, and environment. The PMI has already changed the way in which certain cancers are treated. But what about me? I have never attended medical school, let alone been exposed to precision medicine. My role has been to help in a different way. I have been assigned to the team that has helped to roll out the Mobile Engagement Unit. The Mobile Engagement Unit is a bus that has been modified into a mobile testing center that will be driving around the country to get people involved in research for the project. A bulk of my work has been preparing logistics as the MEU will be traveling starting its trek across the country in August.

The CAPS Fellowship has given me the opportunity to explore the diverse nature of the DC area. My roommates have developed a plan to eat at a restaurant representing a different part of the world every Friday night. As I write this blog I am quite full after our Ethiopian food extravaganza. In the future we plan on sampling Sri Lankan, Vietnamese, and Mongolian, just to name a few. This an opportunity that is unique to Washington DC. Outside of London or New York, it is difficult to find such a diverse group of foreign diaspora living in one place.

These two experiences are a mere sampling of the activities I have taken part in during my first few weeks in Washington that have facilitated the introspective nature of CAPS. I have found myself reflecting deeply on what my future will look like. For a long time I did not know whether I would pursue something in the non-profit sector or something business related. I had always held the two as distinctly different. I have seen through CAPS and my time that Venn Strategies that despite the fact that is not a non-profit, the work we do is changing the lives of those in America the better. There is a phrase written on one of the walls in the office that says, “act like the work you do matters, it does.” This phrase describes how I feel when I go into work every day. Whether it is helping the Precision Medicine Initiative or researching infrastructure improvement, I have learned that work in policy can truly be fulfilling work and give a purpose for getting out of bed each day. I look forward to the rest of my time at Venn Strategies and the rest of the CAPS Fellowship.