I am a doctoral candidate in the Department of Economics at the University of New Mexico, where I also maintain a research fellowship in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy. I have progressed to candidacy with training focused on labor, health, and public economics, applied econometrics, immigration, and policy analysis. My lived and professional experiences have tremendously impacted my desire to become an economist and has shaped the lens in which I formulate new research questions and structure my pedagogical strategy.