Major: Health Sciences

Julia Shi is a sophomore from Villanova, Pennsylvania. For her, the main draw of the Health Sciences major was the close relationships between faculty and students and extensive coursework on public health with opportunities to explore related topics in the social sciences and humanities.

This past summer, like many other students, Julia had her original plans disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through HEAL 379: Internship in Health Sciences, she was able to secure another position as a health communications intern at the Houston AIDS Education and Training Center. There, she learned how health education programs are designed and implemented, and how organizations recruit participants to engage with programming.

“I learned a lot about how public and clinical health workers collaborate and build on each others’ efforts. The experience reinforced my interest in both fields and provided an opportunity to meet professional mentors who have provided invaluable career advice.” she said. The internship, along with research experiences at McGovern Medical School and Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, have shaped her aspirations towards a career in healthcare.

A longtime pianist, Julia has also recently begun learning how to write and produce music herself with the Rice Music Collective. “There’s something about the way a musician can evoke a specific emotion with just a few notes” that is “inspiring,” she said. She hopes to take courses at the Shepherd School of Music and learn to create spaces in time for herself and others through sound. Julia is also involved with Rice UNICEF, the Doerr Institute, and her residential college government. “I’m incredibly appreciative of the opportunities Rice has provided for me to explore all of my interests, academic and otherwise,” she said.

Nowadays, you can usually find Julia playing a keyboard, hanging out virtually with friends, or representing Rice at regional college admissions events. She is excited to return to campus in the future and finish out the rest of her college years in-person.