Lilly Smith ’19

Year/Major: Lilly Graduated in 2019 as a Biology Major
Occupation: Doctorate Student at NC State School of Veterinary Medicine
Interests: Running, Hiking, Camping, and traveling to beautiful places

Last summer, Lilly participated in a Milk and Safety research study in Kisumu, Kenya. Her work centered around finding health risks in milk production. More specifically, Lilly was looking at how practices in rural milk production impacted milk and health safety in urban areas where the milk may be consumed.

“What I wrote my [Senior Integration Project] on kind of hit the intersection between animal, environmental, and human health. I do think that the way that Covenant has done education has shown me the interconnection between science that impacts all the areas.”

Being a biology major is certainly no easy feat. Lilly commented that the rigorous academics helped her feel prepared for her work. In particular, she remembers how Dr. Zuidema required his students to read many scientific research papers, which at the time was not something she appreciated. However, now as Lilly produces doctorate level work, she appreciates the intensity of his curriculum that has helped her feel capable of quality academic writing.

Outside of academics, Lilly appreciated how Covenant shaped her thoughts on how to travel to different countries and experience unique cultures with an open mind. While in Kenya, Lilly indebted much of her ability to build different relationships with people and experience diverse areas of Kenya to her time on the cross country team.

At this point, Lilly has many different opportunities to pursue. Her passion for One Health—the ways that animal, human, and environmental health intersect—may lead her to work involving issues of food safety, antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic disease, etc. However, she acknowledged that the veterinary field is extremely broad and many different types of work within that area appeal to her.

“My research this summer was a great opportunity to gain experience in this area, and I am still on a journey to learn about roles in a variety of settings such as public health agencies, clinical practice, research, regulatory medicine, and more. In a year and a half I plan to graduate and will head in one direction, but the exciting thing about this career is that I could do something very different down the road.”