Welcome! 

     My name is Kamilah (Kami) Walters, and I am a full time student majoring in Neuroscience at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The purpose of this electronic portfolio is to offer an exploration of my personal and professional development at IUPUI for both myself and others. For a more streamlined version of the information in this portfolio, please view my resume, which can be accessed from the link on the top of this page. Thank you for your interest!

About Me

     I grew up in the small town of Mount Vernon, Indiana, where I lived until I moved to Indianapolis for college in 2012. I originally came to IUPUI as a biology major, but quickly became interested in the school's new neuroscience program. I really enjoy studying the mechanisms of human cognition, emotion, and behavior from both biological and psychological perspectives, and I’ve found that the neuroscience major is a great fit for me. I have also completed a minor in biology.

    I have been interested in the medical field since I was very young. During my senior year of high school, I had the amazing opportunity to participate in a semester-long observational learning course that consisted of job shadowing in a wide variety of medical professions, including nursing, surgery, emergency medicine, family practice, veterinary medicine, dentistry, and even a few weeks with the Evansville Vanderburgh County Coroner's Office. Although I had considered pursuing  medical practice before the course, my experiences in this program really solidified my career plans and helped me decide on neuroscience as a major. My experiences at IUPUI  have continued to encourage these plans, and I will begin applying to medical schools in the summer of 2015.

    Since coming to college, I've had the opportunity to work in both laboratory and clinical research. During my freshman year, I worked with Dr. Richard Gregory at the IU School of Dentistry Oral Health Research Institute. Our research was focused on the effects of nicotine on oral bacteria and the implications of these effects in both dentistry and medicine. In my sophomore year, I completed an internship with the IU Psychotic Disorders Program working at the Prevention and Recovery Center for Early Psychosis (PARC) at Ezkenazi Health Hospital. I conducted a project that explored the effect of childhood/adolescent social and academic functioning on illness severity of first-episode patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. After the internship year, I was switched over to an hourly research assistant position at PARC, where I currently work tracking and entering  data for six different clinical studies and helping prepare for patients’ clinical and research visits. I also worked with the Eskenazi Health Emergency Department from July 2014 - February 2015, where I observed patient interactions with medical students for IU Emergency Medicine research. For more detailed information about my research experience, please see the "research" page listed above and the links included in that section.

     For the past two years, I have been volunteering at the IU School of Medicine's Student Outreach Clinic (IUSOC) with IUPUI's chapter of Timmy Global Health. I also participated in Timmy's annual medical brigade to the Dominican Republic twice during spring break in 2014 and 2015. I currently serve on the IUPUI chapter's executive board as the IUSOC Director of Volunteers. In addition to my work with Timmy, I have volunteered with the IUPUI Honors College as a freshman peer mentor since Fall 2012, and I served as a mentor leader for the Fall 2014 semester. For more information on my experiences with Timmy and the Honors College Peer Mentoring Program, please see the "service" page listed above and the links included in that section.

    To complement the knowledge and experience I've gained from observational learning, research, and volunteer work, I have also developed steady time management skills and a good work ethic working part-time jobs while in school. I began working at McDonald's when I was 16 and stayed there until I moved to college, and I also worked as a sales associate in the Indianapolis Circle Center Mall for six months in 2013. My customer service experience has really helped to develop and improve my interpersonal skills, and to prepare me for a career working with people. While I am enjoying my time in the academic world, as of right now my ultimate  goal is to work full-time in patient care.

Contact Information

Please feel free to contact me online!

E-mail| kamwalte@iupui.edu

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