How long have you been a member of AAAM?
I have been a member since 2008.
What inspired you to join AAAM?
As a student, I had the opportunity to attend the AAAM conference and I really enjoyed it. The conference attendees were so supportive of student work and I enjoyed the variety of topics you got to learn about.
What are your main areas of interest in the field of Automotive Medicine?
My main area of interest is biomechanics. I have worked with computational models and experimental tests.
What do you find most rewarding about working in this field?
I find the impact of our work the most rewarding thing about this field. The work we do helps keep people safe across their whole lifespan.
What challenges have you faced over the years and how have you overcome them?
The same challenges everyone has probably faced in just keeping everything going. I focus on why I enjoy the work and keep at it.
What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?
That’s a tough one. Maybe that when I am not at work, I enjoy being outside.
How do you think the field is changing and what trends do you see coming up on the horizon?
I think the autonomous vehicle transition is exciting and there is the potential to improve safety with these systems.
What advice would you give to someone interested in this field?
I think that this is a great field to be involved in. There are so many neat opportunities to make a difference and we get to work with many different types of experts.
What’s one thing – either field-related or not – you learned in the last month?
That is one of the reasons I really like this field – I am learning all the time! One of my colleagues was discussing falls prevention recently and I learned that one in three adults over 65 will fall each year, and falls are the leading cause of injury in older adults.