Why did you choose your particular major?

I vividly remember several years ago in Ghana when I sat on the gravel floor, my fingers picking up the smaller stones to play with while I watched a small color TV. They put it on a table in front of the house so that everyone could watch before bedtime. There was a special program highlighting a doctor on national TV that day, and I was intrigued as he eloquently explained how infectious diseases attack the body and the markers they leave behind for pathologists to find. He was so educated. I wanted to also be able to identify those markers and be helpful to my people.

In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, Tyler Gavitt says he’s never felt more relevant. It took him a few departmental moves as an undergraduate to find his niche, but he now feels a calling to use his knowledge and join the fight against infectious respiratory diseases such as COVID-19. He is interested in a career with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), studying transmission rates and reemergence of diseases.

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