SONIA M. VARGAS

 

I work for a branch of the USDA under the Agricultural Research Service.   The area center that I work for is called the San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center.  I'm a biological science technician.

 

I worked for MCMI two summers and during the school year.  When I first started working for Dr. Berkner, I was interested in pursuing medicine.  So, I felt like working with a doctor and working closely with other people who were in charge of student health was really interesting and gave me a first-hand view of monitoring student health.

 

I felt that students and faculty worked really closely at MCMI – which was really unique. I felt that students were really considered a central part of the planning and executing of what MCMI does. Concussion research is really interesting and there are not a lot of organizations that are doing what MCMI does.  They are building resources and building a data set; that is really cool and definitely important.  The culture is shifting around concussion research.  People are realizing more and more the danger and that there need to be more ways to treat and diagnose it. MCMI is filling a role for itself.