GIOVANA SILVA

I am a second-year undergraduate at the University of Florida studying Microbiology and Cell Sciences with a minor concentration in Sociology. I plan on completing my studies in May 2025, whereupon I hope to begin a Master's program while completing Medical School applications for the 2026 cycle. 

I was born and raised in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and I moved to the United States with my family when I was 13. Through many hardships and barriers, I was able to successfully complete my high school education, where I discovered my passion for Medicine. Since then, I have been actively exploring the field and its specialties, searching for the place where I will choose to complete my career as a physician. 

With the aid of my initial experience in clinical medicine and basic research in high school, I was able to further my learning and exploration at the university level. I began working in a research laboratory as a Research Assistant as well as in the collegiate EMS unit as a responder and, currently, a lead. 

Not only that, but during my years at the University of Florida, I was able to learn more about what it means to be Latino in the United States, and what it means to be Brazilian under the Latino umbrella. I am grateful to have found a support system that recognizes me as part of themselves, something that I have never felt previously. I am also lucky to have been given the opportunity to pay it forward with the ADELANTE program, an early-arrival opportunities for Latino freshmen students. I aim to serve as an example to other generations of Brazilians that are initiating their college careers by demonstrating that they, as well, are members of the Hispanic and Latino community, and that they are welcomed and represented within the family that such distinction creates. 

I hope to continue growing personally and professionally during my last year of my undergraduate studies, and throughout the remainder of my academic career. I look forward to the experiences I will have, and what I will be able to learn about the world and myself by participating in them.