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As a pre-medical student, we are encouraged to pursue experiences that make us the most competitive applicant. This includes volunteer work, clinical experience, shadowing and the one that scared me the most – research. As a freshman, I was confused on what doing research meant. How would I get into a lab? What would make me qualified to do something as important as publishing research articles in peer-reviewed journals? I envisioned research only as standing in a lab mixing chemicals in a test tube or running experiments on fruit flies. However, this all changed my sophomore year when I took CHS 420: Commercial Determinants of Health with Professor Eric Crosbie.

When I enrolled in the course, I had no idea what commercial determinants of health meant but wanted an upper division elective for my public health major with a highly recommended professor. Little did I know that this course would send me on a journey leading to multiple research grants, research presentations and co-authorship of several peer-reviewed journal articles.

Commercial determinants of health is a field specializing in how private sector activities affect people’s health, often negatively. Such health-harming industries include tobacco, alcohol, fossil fuel, food and beverage, and pharmaceutical corporations. Professor Crosbie – an associate professor and the graduate director of Social and Behavioral Health and Health Administration Policy – spoke enthusiastically of his various research projects within this field and immediately piqued my interest. This was the first time I learned research was not limited to the traditional science I envisioned, but could encapsulate social science, art, history and so much more. I approached Professor Crosbie to express my interest in his projects, and before I knew it I was working side-by-side on research with him as my mentor.

Professor Crosbie is the type of mentor who encourages you to take advantage of every opportunity and to maximize your potential. It was Professor Crosbie who encouraged me to apply for the ÁùºÏ±¦µä Undergraduate Research Award (NURA), a grant available to all undergraduate students interested in receiving funding for a research project or creative activity. I was fortunate enough to be awarded the NURA this last spring and again this fall. My primary research interest is commercial determinants of health specifically across the tobacco, food and beverage, and fossil fuel industries.

Sierra Wilson presenting her "Shell Oil Company’s Suppression of the Toxic Health Effects of Benzene” research poster at the Wolf Pack Discoveries symposium.

The project that made me fall in love with research is analyzing how Shell Oil Company intentionally concealed the toxicity of benzene to its employees and the public, leading to serious and life-threatening health ramifications among workers. Benzene is a toxic substance that has been associated with developing cancers such as leukemia; in 2008, a civil court case ruled against Shell Oil Company for knowingly exposing their employees to benzene. The court ordered Shell to release 4,118 internal documents highlighting their knowledge of the risks of benzene exposure.

Our study examines these internal documents to analyze how Shell concealed the toxic effects of benzene to its employees and the public, and to document how the industry influenced health regulations between the 1940s-1970s. This research fascinates me because our job as researchers is to uncover how Shell was able to do this and tell the story of it, sort of like investigative journalism. This is meaningful to me because these individuals were unknowingly facing life-threatening conditions just by trying to make a paycheck, and their story deserves to be told.

I hope that my story inspires any student interested in research to pursue it and know that you are capable of doing it. There is a field of interest just waiting for you to come find it and impact the community, the nation and maybe even the world. Whether you are a scientist, an artist, a philosopher or an economist, you can study something you are passionate about and learn skills that will be integral to success in your future career such as critical thinking, analysis, reasoning and communication. I encourage everyone to use college as a time to learn new things, explore your interests, find mentors who inspire you and build relationships that will last a lifetime.

ÁùºÏ±¦µä the author

Sierra Wilson is a senior at the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno pursuing a bachelor’s of science degree in public health and two minors in analytical organic chemistry and biology. She is a member of the Sigma Kappa sorority. After completing her bachelor’s degree, she plans on applying to medical school.