“In my dreams, my ancestors feed me,” I started, casting my gaze towards the audience seated on folding chairs on a blocked-off 21st Street. Though the sky threatened rain as I spoke, I launched passionately into my refrain, describing a tether to my heritage that guides me in pursuit of scientific discovery. Through a spoken word contest, I had won the honor of performing at the city’s July 4th Our America Now event alongside legendary artists. The story I told of my America is one of war and immigration, birth and rebirth, one that centers on a matrilineal pull to the sciences and their community impact. My great-grandmother practiced hilot, the ancient Filipino art of healing. My grandmother carried her chair miles to school as a child, then came to the US and became a doctor specializing in internal medicine and geriatrics. My mother was a childbirth doula who hoped I’d become a midwife. Amidst a sea of blurry childhood memories, I can still recall the night I watched her give birth to my sister in our home, an incredible display of feminine power that I desperately wanted to understand. As a teenager, I received diverse opportunities to cultivate this passion for the sciences. My fascination with obstetrics blossomed as I participated in the Penn Academy for Reproductive Sciences. Conducting psychophysical research as an apprentice at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, I learned that advancing health extends beyond studying science to expressing empathy. Shadowing my childhood pediatrician at an integrative clinic aiding marginalized communities solidified my desire to serve families as the women in my family have been doing for centuries. As a physician, I aim to focus on holistic cultural and social understanding alongside physical treatment, to save lives. I’m passionate about pushing for equitable treatment of people of color, specifically lowering the disproportionately high maternal mortality rates for African American women. By connecting communities to local resources providing additional psychological, nutritional, and financial support, I will create a stronger system that not only hears their often ignored needs, but meets them. Equipped with an anthropological perspective and cultural sensitivity from studies in medical anthropology, I also hope to lower maternal mortality rates on an international level by volunteering for Doctors Without Borders in countries lacking medical birthing resources. Following in the footsteps of my grandmother, who returned to her home in the Philippines as a doctor to treat her community, I will honor my origins by supporting birth givers in today's global healthcare environment.