KATIE NEGLIA: So I think .. there’s lots of highly motivated students, especially that are going to be pursuing health care and I've received this advice a lot and originally, I would give this advice … and it's your cliche “you’ve got to say yes to every opportunity.” But I always tell students you actually don't want to say yes to every opportunity …
(Opening intro music.)
BERNADETTE CORTEZ: Hey everyone you are listening to another episode of The Way Podcast, the official podcast of the College of Health Sciences here at the University of Kentucky. I am Bernadette Cortez, the director of recruitment.
RYAN CLARK: And I'm Ryan Clark your director of communications. Welcome Bernadette.
BC: Welcome Ryan.
RC: Today, everybody, we’ve got a real, real treat for you. And this is near and dear to Bernadette's heart because this is the first time that we ever had, I think, unless I’m wrong, but I think this is right — I think it’s the first time for an ambassador for the College of Health Sciences — a current student — on our podcast! And what does that mean, Bern?
BC: It’s great. This is the perfect ambassador, perfect person, perfect image of the College of Health Sciences to have here on our podcast.
RC: It’s true. It's like every now and then we hit a bullseye.
BC: Yes. She’s incredibly accomplished, academically. She’s wonderful. She’s also someone who brings a lot of positivity. I think, kindness, everywhere she goes. She’s a perfect example.
RC: A lot of wisdom too, in a sophomore, here in the College of Health Sciences. We’re going to talk a lot about time management. We’re going to talk about managing your mental health. We’re going to talk a bout diversifying your interests within a certain idea of what you want to do. And the other thing is, you know more concrete is, we’re going to talk about undergraduate research here in the College of Health Sciences, which is an opportunity that not everybody gets.
BC: I think – if you’re not sold on undergraduate research, I’m hoping you will be.
RC: It’s a big thing. A big thing about this. Without further ado, we’re going to be talking today to sophomore Katie Neglia – she is from Carmel, Indiana, right outside Indianapolis. The pride of Indianapolis. And we’ll hear about what got her to come down here to Lexington, Kentucky. So – here you go everybody. Here’s Katie on The Way Podcast …
KATIE NEGLIA: My name is Katie Neglia, I’m a sophomore here at the University of Kentucky majoring in Human Health Sciences in the College of Health Sciences and minoring in pharmacology and I'm originally from Carmel, Indiana, which is a suburb just north of Indianapolis, and I came to school here at UK because I love Lexington and I love that the hospital system was right on campus and I knew there would be so many great opportunities here.
RC: Welcome, so much, Katie, thank you for making the time. As I know, because I’ve written about you quite a lot, I know you have a lot going on, so thank you so much. Now I know — we’ll just get into this right now and peel back the curtain, right? — I know you and Bernadette – how do you guys know each other? And you can tell us a little bit about what you’re involved in, Katie.
KN: Yeah so you're totally right. If you saw my Google Calendar you would probably like, have a heart attack because it is so packed. But I truly love being involved in so many different things and I've luckily been able to balance so many different things so far. But I know Bernadette because I'm an ambassador for our college, the College of Health Sciences, and I have been that for a whole year now and I'm going to continue next year and I've loved it. It's been a great opportunity to connect with other leaders within our college and get to connect to potential students because I was trying to be the person that I wish I had when I was touring Kentucky. And because I was an older sibling — I didn't have someone going through college to ask questions to — so I really try to be that older sibling to other people that have questions.
RC: Real quick, Bern, what does that mean to be an ambassador? What is that?
BC: We have current students who literally volunteer their time to help prospective students and their families learn more about the university and the College of Health Sciences — why they chose CHS, what you can do, research. I know a lot of them have gone abroad, and how all of that meshes with what they want to do after graduation. So, they have a lot of family-facing responsibilities.
RC: I think this may be the first time we’ve ever had an ambassador on.
BC: I think so.
RC: This is a big deal Katie!
KN: Yay!
RC: Can we back up – and you eluded to this. Growing up in Indianapolis – I assume growing up in Indianapolis – how do you get, and what attracts you to, UK?
KN: Yeah so I really had no connection to Kentucky at all. I don’t think I’d ever been to Kentucky until like, when I applied. And I applied and I got some good financial aid, which is always attractive … especially since I want to attend medical school in the future, so that's going to be a lot of money. So that was definitely a contributing factor, but I also loved the city of Lexington. I thought it was the perfect size for a college student, like young adult. It's still got enough city and things going on but it's not so big that it's overwhelming, and there was still enough of that college town feel that I didn't feel like ohh it's right in the middle of a really big city. And I also love that there was so much of a hospital system directly on campus and integrated within the campus community. So I knew there would be plenty of opportunities to get job opportunities in the hospital or do shadowing or volunteer. And I can literally just walk from where I live on campus to the hospital, which is great
RC: That is really cool. So, UK wins you over. How did you decide on HHS? How did you decide on your minor, what to focus on? Have you always been interested in healthcare and helping people? Tell us a little about that.
KN: Yeah, so I In healthcare I've always really enjoyed science classes and I was doing science fairs since I was in like elementary school, so we already knew I was interested in all of that stuff. But I actually entered college thinking that I wanted to be a physician assistant instead of going to medical school. And so, we're still in the same Human Health Sciences major throughout, which was great because that major actually helped me determine that going to medical school was going to be a better path for me than physician assistant school — just learning more about each of the professions in that HHS 101 class and speaking with different professionals. And I'm so glad that I chose this major instead of your typical biology major because it's so much more social-based and community-based and I would think of it as like the people aspect of healthcare and medicine because I'm still taking the same for prerequisite classes as my biology peers, but I'm getting a lot more of the worldly aspects of healthcare and learning about social determinants of health and how to work interprofessionally, and how to communicate with my patients and be an empathetic provider. So that's definitely going to help me when I'm actually in the real world practicing as opposed to just doing the book, taking notes and everything that can only get you so far. So I've loved the HHS major and then my pharmacology minor I added on, I think, the start of my sophomore year because I took a Physiology and neuroscience class and I was really interested in all of that and kind of how drugs are interacting with the brain. Actually, both my parents are pharmacists so they were like “Ohh yes that would be perfect, because your ideal provider not only prescribes the medication, but also knows the backing and knows why we're prescribing it and what it's doing to the brain. So I thought that would be a really fascinating minor to pick up and the classes that I've taken for it so far have been great. So I've loved both my major and my minor and it's a good combination of the community-based and then more of the biological-based aspects of healthcare.
RC: I can see why she’s a good ambassador, Bern.
BC: Oh I know. She had stopped by the office the other day and a family was leaving and we were chatting with them and she stopped and was like, “Do you guys want to know what I’ve been doing in the lab?” And she was so excited, and like showed her phone and was … super excited and hung out a bit longer to chat with them. So I was like, you know … you’re so positive and so happy about this stuff, and you’re so excited about the things you’re involved in. It makes a great ambassador when you’re not selling anything, being genuine.
KN: Right. Yes! And that’s what I tell people. They’re like, “You’re involved in so much — how do you do it? My key is that I genuinely love everything that I’m involved in, and it wasn’t like I just joined a bunch of things that I automatically love. I just had to work hard to find the things I love, and then continue those things. If I don’t, love it, I don’t really continue doing it. That’s the key — find something you’re passionate about and put all of your effort into those.
RC: Katie, one of those things that you're involved in and that you have actually been featured in a university video for is undergraduate research. It's one of the things that we talk about so much within this college, and we talk about as an opportunity that not everyone can have when they go to a university. But here in the College of Health Sciences, you do get those kinds of opportunities. Tell us about your undergraduate research experience, how you got involved with that, and most importantly, can you define what you're actually doing, for us because I'm not sure we'll understand it?
KN: No, I'll start by saying a lot of people, and me included, when I first started into research, I feel like research gets a really scary name and you're thinking about it and you don't know much about it, and I'll just be honest, when I entered college, I had never done research at all. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew that I was curious and I knew that research would give me an avenue to pursue that curiosity, so I jumped headfirst in and I emailed the Office of Undergraduate Research, probably not a very professional e-mail, but I was just asking about more of the opportunities and that is one of the biggest like pieces of advice I would give to people, and I'll circle back to my research and everything, is that you really always are going to feel a little bit of imposter syndrome when you're starting new opportunities, especially with research, especially if you've never done it before. But you have to keep working at it and keep putting yourself out there and don't be afraid to ask questions, that's what research is, it's just continuously asking questions. So, if you can be mature enough and humble enough to say, I don't understand, can you explain this? Or how can I get involved? Then the opportunities will come to you. Like I said, I've had great success with my research endeavors so far. And that's not because I had all of these connections before, or I had done all this and had all this past experience, it's just because I kept putting myself out there and trying new things. And like half of it failed, but half of it succeeded. So if you don't try, then you're never going to know. And that is something that I've definitely worked through. And that's another great aspect of research is that working through the process of failing and then finding out how you could do it better or how to ask a better question, that's definitely been helpful.
But my area of research, so I work with Dr. Cooper and he is in the Department of Biology and he also teaches animal physiology, so I'm in his class right now which is great to kind of get both the lab and the classroom environment with the same mentor. But we, my research then centers on the neuromodulation of sensory and motor neurons, which is just saying how these motor neurons and sensory neurons communicate with each other and how different either neurotransmitters or bacteria is going to affect how these neurons communicate.
RC: And how do you come up with that question?
KN: So a lot of the work that we do is just based on previous work that has been done in our lab, which is really cool because in research, there's a lot of mentorship, which I really appreciate. It's not just you by yourself in the lab. It's building off of work of years and years and years before. So Dr. Cooper has been teaching at the university for over 30 years, and has been taking on undergraduates and doing work and publishing papers in his lab for all of that time. So there was a lot of previous literature that I was researching and kind of trying to backfill all of this work. And I was interested in learning more all about it. So, the projects that I've been working on have been continuations of those and then contributing my new ideas to what I hope to accomplish in my research career.
BC: I feel a little bit smarter for listening to that, but also hope that I don't have any questions asked about it.
KN: Yeah, so actually, and research is so funny because one of the hardest, so I'll talk a little bit about one of the research things that I did. So I did the five-minute fast track undergraduate research competition, which was absolutely terrifying. Probably one of the hardest things I've ever done because your goal is to get up in front of a panel of judges, and this panel of judges were made-up of experts, professionals at the university from the UK College of Medicine, from the undergraduate research advisory board, so very important people within the university, judging my pitch. And I was also timed, and it had to be memorized. And the whole goal was to condense all of your jargon-filled research into something that's easily accessible for a general audience, which is absolutely key when you are doing research because it's so easy to get bogged down by all the little details of your specific research, your specific model, your specific neurotransmitter that you're working on. But if you can't communicate that in a way that makes sense to people who don't have years and years of past experience, then the research is-
RC: Like me, like us, yeah.
KN: And like I was like last year, because it takes a long time for you to feel like you can speak intelligently about the work that you're working on. So I did that, and then that's five minutes of talking. And then after that, the panel has a Q&A session. So it was open to any question ever that they could come up with about my specific research by experts in the field. So they knew their stuff. So I was basically like on the hot seat as to do I know my stuff as well as I'm presenting it. So that was another hurdle to prepare for and everything, which was great because I learned so much more about what I'm doing. And it really solidified what I was working on and forced me to do a lot of good background research. But it was great, I was able to answer the questions they asked on the day of. So paid off.
RC: So you were one of 10 that were named a finalist in that competition. And how'd that go for you?
KN: Yeah, it was great. So the first time, so yes, we had a preliminary round and I think there were about 20 of us, maybe 25. And then based on our rubric, I advanced to the next level with the top 10. And between those rounds was when we could make some adjustments to our presentation based on feedback, which I really appreciated. That's also a big part of research is getting feedback from other reviewers and then making improvements. So based on that, I then upped my presentation and made some changes to my slide to make it more clear and presented again. And I placed third place, which was fantastic.
BC: That's right.
KN: Given also that I was a first semester sophomore competing against seniors. So that was great. And I was really proud of my presentation and my ability to answer their questions. So yeah, it was a great experience. Definitely very difficult, but very rewarding.
RC: Rock star, rock star. Then also, People's Choice honors in the UK Sustainability Poster Competition.
KN: Yes.
RC: How about that?
KN: Yeah, so that was great. That was also work done on a project focused on how bacteria, when that comes to like water waste or so many, there are many different ways bacteria can enter our body, and how that's going to affect us. So I gave a poster presentation and I'd say the People's Choice Award, I'd say was like, I was honored to receive that because that's just based on how people receive your presentation and your communication skills and has less to do with maybe the actual content. But the way that the content is translated is oftentimes even more important.
RC: Here we go. I'll let everybody know how this goes. It's all political. So all of those winners are just, what you want is the People's Choice Award, because that's the one that the people say should win.
KN: Exactly, yes.
RC: I clearly know nothing about what we're talking about, but this is what I infer.
BC: I think that's important. I think that you read who wants to, well, I'm not who wants, because I know there's a lot of very smart people that want to read those. But how do you get to the mass population of people that can understand what you're researching? What's the answer? Why is this good or bad? How do I support this? And so, yeah, you have to be able to put it on, I don't know, like normal people terms, not as smarty, not as smarty people terms.
RC: The people's champion right here.
KN: Yes.
RC: But what we should, and I think what is really the reason that we're, that we're like, we got to have Katie on this podcast is, all right, there were a record, record number of applicants this year to become what's known as a Gains Fellow. Twelve were selected across the university landscape. Katie was one of those 12. Tell us a little bit about this and what this means, Katie.
KN: Yes, so the Gaines Fellowship is like completely different from all of the research I had been doing in the past. And it is very humanities focused and looking at more liberal arts perspective when you're looking at things. And I have absolutely missed that. I love science, obviously, and I love biological research, but I also have a passion for the humanities. I love reading in my free time. I'm proud to say that I read 43 books last year, and my goal is 50 this year.
RC: That’s awesome.
KN: Yeah, so that's always just been a passion of mine and a hobby of mine. And I love that this is going to provide me with a group of people that also share that passion for the humanities. And I know that the humanities are, it's not just a separation of like science and humanities, but they're very interconnected, especially when you're looking at healthcare and you're, I'm going to be learning ways to treat someone as a human and not just a system of body systems. And I'm not looking at the cardiovascular system, I'm looking at this person as a whole and how my emotions and how my language and different cultural backgrounds are all going to combine to allow me to treat this person in the best way possible.
RC: That is just fascinating to me. I mean, but all of this adds up to really giving you such a well-rounded education in all of these disciplines. I mean, not everybody really gets that opportunity, but you're running with it. And that is pretty impressive to me.
KN: Yeah, that's why I always try. I feel like big universities like the University of Kentucky, a lot of times people fear that because there is a lot and there's a lot that you may not know what to join, but just the wide range of opportunities that are available is why I love it and taking advantage of those opportunities and finding people to support you through those opportunities are equally as important. So Dr. Cooper, I could sing his praises forever. He's been incredible and really guiding me as to which opportunities he thinks would be best and like supporting me through all of that. So I'm excited to meet another community of mentors through the GAINS Fellowship.
BC: So People's Choice Award, GAINES Fellow, you are doing that, your five minute fast track, which you participated in. You're also a Children Fellow, right?
KN: Yes, yes. And the Children Fellowship, actually, that is where I was first introduced to the Gaines Fellowship because they're kind of partner programs. The Children Fellowship, you apply for the spring of your freshman year, and then the Gaines Fellowship, you apply for spring of sophomore year, and then that lasts for your junior and senior year, and they work really well together because both are focused on research. And the Children Fellowship is really focused on allowing a diverse group of students in different majors, different colleges, different research interests to work together and collaborate. So I've loved being a part of that. And oftentimes the Children Fellows apply for the Gaines Fellowship, and it's not a guarantee, but that is just a common theme, because if you're interested in research, then potentially you have a greater interest in continuing that with more humanities-based research.
BC: And as a sophomore.
KN: Yes.
RC: Great, right. Well, that begs, that sets up the question, right? So what next? What do these next two years look like for you, Katie? And then what after that?
KN: Yeah, so I feel like I've laid a really great foundation as to what I'm passionate about and what I'm involved in. And now these next two years is just deepening my involvement and what I'm already in, taking up future leadership roles in these organizations and really seeing how my work can be expanded to other communities and how I can continue and push myself with even new opportunities. So I'm looking at attending a research conference in Washington D.C. next year, and it's actually an international conference for the Society for Neuroscience, so that's my next really big goal, and being able to present a poster there and these conferences are more than just my presentation part of it, it's also interacting with other presentations. And I feel like I get equal amounts of value from attending these sessions and listening to other keynote speakers and communicating with other undergraduate students or graduate students and just comparing what we do and learning from each other.
RC: I like how Bernadette, I like how Katie is like, my next goal is the International Neuroscience Conference in Washington. Oh, and then after that, my goal is to turn 21.
KN: It sounds like I have no free time, but I also, my management is my key. That's why I love, like, I will harp on this, my Google Calendar is fantastic because I also schedule in, and it sounds bad, but this is how I maintain my work-life balance is that I schedule in time for my life, just as much as I do as my work. So I mean, over the weekend, I can probably say I didn't touch my laptop once. Yes, and that's how, that's so important. Otherwise, doing the amount of things that I would do, like I would get burnt out so fast. And I really, I do try to push myself to do as much as I can, but I also know that maintaining my own mental health and social wellbeing and everything is equally as important. So I really prioritize that stuff as well.
BC: And right, as an ambassador, you were supposed to go to X amount of like different events or like talk to families and do all this stuff. And she has managed to do all of that. Without like, no, I can't make it or I can't do that. Like she's managed to meet those requirements and continue to do everything else that she is doing.
RC: Impressive, impressive, impressive student here.
BC: I know, I'm so excited.
RC: I feel like, and this happens a little bit sometimes, but like I feel like again, like it's one of those moments where I'm like, what have I done? You know, like what, like I'm hosting a podcast, what am I doing? Wow.
BC: The thing I get excited about is I can't wait for the next big thing that happens in Katie's life. And then I get to hear it because I'm in class with her. And so then I can tell you, but I'm also like, oh my gosh, you want to hear this really cool thing one of my ambassadors is doing? And that's how I am going. That's my next goal is like I can't wait until we get to present.
RC: And then we get to put it on the website.
BC: And then we get to put it on the website.
RC: It's already almost been half an hour, Katie, so we won't we won't keep it too much longer. One thing that I'm interested in. Because you read nearly 50 books last year, can you give us a couple of recommendations? Some things that you read over the past year. I'm more into some kind of like contemporary fiction. I don't know if that worked into your stuff. I also like nonfiction, that's fine. What are you into? What are you into, Byrne?
BC: I try to dabble in some of the nonfiction. I read Doing Harm, which is... I don't know, lack of, people don't believe women in healthcare or like, women patients and stuff. So I don't know if I can do nonfiction a lot, but I'm also like into like mysteries though. Like.
RC: Okay. Katie, what are you into? What recommendations do you have for us?
KN: Yeah, okay. So I would say I really try to read a wide variety of genres, but I love, I'd say my favorite author, her name is Kristen Hannah, and she does a great job of incorporating women's stories into historical fiction in a way that doesn't sound like you're reading a history textbook. And my favorite by her is either the Nightingale or the Great Alone. And they have great like women as the central characters. And it really tells a great story of how they impacted history. Some of my other favorite books.
RC: I knew we were gonna get a good recommendation on this.
KN: Yes, yes.
RC: That's interesting.
KN: I really enjoyed The Song of the Achilles by Madeline Miller, which is kind of about Greek mythology, but it's written in a way that makes it understandable and makes it very relevant and it's beautiful storytelling. So I love that. And then I also do enjoy your good, like light and airy fiction book. So I recently read The House in the Cerulean Sea and it was really good too. It's kind of about this adoption leader who has all of these eccentric characters come to his house on this island. And it's really cool and it has great messages, but it's also just a really fun read.
RC: Oh, that sounds interesting. Well, okay, Bernadette recommended to me. Now I have, so I have to step up. I'm going to go the last that I read was Daisy Jones and the Six.
KN: Yes, I read that. I really enjoyed that.
RC: Taylor Jenkins Reid. I think that is outstanding. So I'll just leave that out there. All right. We always loved and we've gotten a lot. I think I've learned A lot. I think I have goals now that I need to follow a little bit more after this conversation. But I think one of the things, Katie, that we always ask is, all right, I'm a student, I'm 16, believe it or not, I am going to ask you for advice about maybe I'm interested in going down a similar path. Maybe I'm interested in the university. Maybe I'm interested in the College of Health Sciences. Maybe I'm interested in pharmacology, I don't know, whatever. But I'm asking you for advice. What do you, because I'm sure this has happened, what do you say about this university, this college, your path in general? What do you tell folks?
KN: Yeah, so I think there's lots of highly motivated students, especially that are going to be pursuing healthcare. And I've received this advice a lot. And originally, I would give this advice. And it's your cliche, you got to say yes to every opportunity. But I always tell students, you actually don't want to say yes to every opportunity.
RC: Oh, that's good.
KN: Yes, at the beginning of your freshman year, test out some things. But it's equally as important and absolutely necessary to say no to opportunities and to know when to say no and to find your boundaries and find what is going to be too much on your plate so that you can ensure that you're giving 100% of your passion and your effort into what you're currently doing and be really good at that instead of giving just a little bit of effort and not being able to give your all and give your best to a million different things. So you should say yes to a lot of things, but also be good with saying no and learn to be better about saying no.
RC: That's very smart. We haven't, I don't think we've had anybody say that before. It is, I think, cliche to talk about how you always want to say yes to every opportunity. It makes a lot of sense to think about that before you do. Burn, have we forgotten anything?
BC: No, I think we've covered it all.
RC: Katie, thank you so much for your time. We've already gone over 30 minutes. It feels like 30 seconds. But it's going to be so much fun to see what you do in these next two years here, Katie. And I hope you don't mind the constant emails when I beg you for quotes and things like that.
KN: No, all good.
RC: Know that whenever you achieve something, there's going to be an e-mail that comes after that says, hey, we're going to have to feature you on the website again.
KN: Perfect. I'm looking forward to it.
RC: Thank you so much. We appreciate it.
KN: Yeah, of course. Thank you for interviewing.
RC: There you have it, everybody. Katie Neglia on The Way Podcast. Just an awesome representative of the college. We could not cast anyone better than that, which is why, by the way, I will point out again, she was cast in the official undergraduate research video for the University of Kentucky, which we might be able to link to here. If not, you can find it, but Katie's so well-spoken about everything that she's involved in.
BC: And she just is curious all the time and cannot wait to find answers and is excited.
RC: Oh, right.
BC: And I think the listeners couldn't view it, but she is so excited and you can see she's very passionate about what she's talking about. It just, I'm so proud of her. I'm so proud of her.
RC: I love that you said asking the question. Because I think that's a big deal. But then the other thing that I thought was so interesting was knowing when to say no. I thought that was so fascinating from someone who is so young, you know, just like that is, that's kind of a wise thing to do. Knowing when to say no, and then giving a hundred percent of your passion for those other things that you want to give your all to. I thought that was like, I was like, I actually wrote that down.
BC: Yeah, that's a great piece of advice. We're always telling students, try everything, go out and do this. And yeah, you should. Your first year, you know, first semester, you should. But when you find something that you love, go for it.
RC: Yeah, and you can't do everything. It's important to know you can't do everything. So, you know, winnow that down, try to get the things that you really want to do, and then 100% in everything. Everybody, we're just so happy to be able to bring you another great interview. Katie Neglia, thanks so much to Katie. Thanks to you, Bernadette.
BC: Thanks to you, Ryan.
RC: Thanks to all the listeners out there. We love doing this. And next month, we'll have another interview for you talking about the great people that we have here in the College of Health Sciences. It is The Way Podcast. Thanks so much, everybody. We're out.
BC: Bye.
This has been The Way Podcast, the official podcast of the University of Kentucky's College of Health Sciences. The Way is written and produced by Ryan Clark, Bernadette Cortez, Sam Reynolds, and Will Hieronymus. Join us next month for another episode of The Way, brought to you by UPACE's College of Health Sciences, your gateway to the health professions.