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Our social environment affects how we study other organisms. We often use the animal world as justification or examples for how humans should be, which is dangerous.

What is One Health? It’s “recognizing the interconnected relationships between human, animal, and environmental health and working together across those disciplines and sectors," says Griffith.

Conservation work needs individuals who can foster a mindset of interconnectedness.

You never know where your life is going to take you. So be open to possibilities that might open up.

I really appreciate that I went to school in a time when I learned to relate to the patient, professionally, socially, and personally.

The experience of learning how to think scientifically can help develop a person's critical thinking skills. Scientific inquiry helps people differentiate between things that are real and things that are not real. 

My work allows me to better see the connection between the research realm and the more human part of the world. In my current position, I am able to work towards making science more relevant for policy and decision making, and I find those goals to be a lot more tangible.

If you have taken a class with Professor Lafontant, you may have picked up on a sense of what he calls wonderment. Wonderment is a word that reflects his belief that the whole world of science is fascinating.

It’s a physician’s role to look beyond the analytics and think ‘What does this feel like to the patient and family? What does a longer wait time mean for future care?’

The best work that we can do for the environment, for nature and wildlife, and for each other, is get involved with the local communities because that is where the impact of our work can be seen.

Where the sciences are headed with research is exactly what’s embedded into classes at Grinnell. It starts from the very beginning with Intro to Biology, and continues as two or three authentic research projects for every class after that.