For many students, middle school is a time of uncertainty. For Alaina Jefferson, it marked the beginning of a certain and lifelong fascination with the brain.
As a seventh grader attending a science camp at Virginia Commonwealth University, Jefferson participated in an experiment that allowed students to control each other’s arm movements through electrical impulses. The experience left her amazed and curious.
“I was so awestruck by this form of—for lack of a better word—mind-control, and from then on I was obsessed with neuroscience and learning all about the nervous system,” Jefferson recalled.
The experience had a lasting impact on Jefferson, and she continued to explore the field, participating in a weeklong neuroscience summer camp in her freshman year of high school and securing a summer internship at The Ohio State University before her senior year of high school, where she investigated and performed stimulation experiments on specific cells in the hippocampus of mice.
“The brain is so vast and still such an enigma, and I love the wide expanse of things I can learn within the singular discipline,” Jefferson said. “My summer experience at Ohio State drew me into the research side of neuroscience, which was a key factor in informing my college decisions later on.”
With a desire to pair scientific discovery with patient care, Jefferson set her sights on a career in medicine. The College of Arts and Science’s neuroscience program, with its strong research opportunities and alignment with pre-medical requisites, quickly became her top choice.
Now a graduating senior, Jefferson has pursued that path with both intention and openness, majoring in neuroscience, minoring in Spanish for the professions, and embracing opportunities that expanded her perspective beyond the lab.
In her junior year, she conducted research under the guidance of Dr. Jo Ellen Wilson, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Jefferson examined how catatonia, a form of brain dysfunction where an individual is awake but unresponsive, affects cognitive impairment after patients are discharged from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This experience not only taught her more about the brain and patient recovery, but also gave her the opportunity to share her research results and produce scientific communications.
Beyond her academic work, Jefferson invested deeply in building community over her four years. As a member of the Mu Rho Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a service-oriented organization, she participated and hosted a variety of service and educational opportunities geared towards the Black community on campus and the broader Nashville area.
She served on the executive board for Medley of Students and Ideas Connecting (M.O.S.A.I.C.), a student organization formerly affiliated with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions that invited admitted high school students to stay overnight on Vanderbilt’s campus to learn about various community resources and develop a sense of belonging. She also served on the executive board for Sankofa: Fellows in African American and Diaspora Studies, a student organization sponsored by the Department of African American and Diaspora Studies to create events and facilitate community centered around the education and celebration of the Black diaspora. While Jefferson was on the executive board, Sankofa hosted annual trips to the Nashville Black Market, held discussion forums, and facilitated monthly literature clubs.
“The College of Arts and Science has given me so many experiences beyond my major, which really broadened my perspective and horizons, uncovered new passions, and helped to give me a different type of fulfillment that extended past just neuroscience,” she said. “The most important skill I learned from my time in Arts and Science was to be open to any and all knowledge. Before attending Vanderbilt, I was tunnel-visioned, focusing only on things that would further my career as a neurologist. However, the breadth of knowledge that I received from non-science courses definitely helped to shape me into a better future physician.”
This ability to remain open ultimately led Jefferson to a pivotal shift.
Drawn to a course that connected the humanities and medicine, in her sophomore year Jefferson enrolled in Medical Apartheid: Race, Gender and Health, offered by the Department of African American and Diaspora Studies and taught by Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Distinguished Chair in the Humanities and Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and French Tracey Sharpley-Whiting and Lecturer of African American and Diaspora Studies Bridget G. Hall. The impact the course had on her was far beyond what she could have imagined, and ultimately shifted her career trajectory.
“In this class, I was introduced to health disparities, social determinants of health, and most importantly, the unabridged history of gynecology in the United States,” Jefferson said. “I was horrified at the history of medical abuse and exploitation, but even more disturbing was the current situation of the treatment of Black female patients within the healthcare sphere.”
Deeply inspired to learn more, Jefferson crafted her final project around interviews she conducted with Black mothers and their experiences in the healthcare system.
“Enraptured by the field of gynecology and health equity, I created a podcast for my culminating project, interviewing Black mothers to learn more about their childbirth stories,” she said. “Across all of the interviews, there were common themes of feeling voiceless and powerless.”
By the end of the course, Jefferson’s understanding of medicine, and her place within it, had fundamentally changed. While her passion for neuroscience remains, she now has a new dream to be part of the advancement of women’s healthcare, specifically for Black women. Looking to the future, she now intends to pursue a career in obstetrics and gynecology. After graduation she will take two gap years to work as a medical scribe and later apply to medical school, continuing a journey shaped not only by intellectual curiosity but by a growing sense of purpose.
“The Medical Apartheid course truly shifted my career choice from neurology to gynecology, though I still want to somehow marry those two passions in my future career,” she said. “My ultimate goal is to become an OB/GYN with a focus on helping patients in underserved communities and hopefully delve into women’s health research in the long run. I’m excited to see how my passions coalesce in the future as I work towards becoming a doctor.”
