Facts are powerful at dispelling the clouds of uncertainty, so seeking out information on all aspects of the pandemic directly from scientists has been my antidote.

I gathered my facts at “The Race for a Vaccine” virtual event, where I asked Jerome Kim, Director of International Vaccine Institute, and Jeffrey Kahn, Director of Johns Hopkins Institute of Bioethics and creator of the infamous COVID-19 map, burning questions on vaccine and antibody development. I explored challenges of allocating scarce medical supplies at the “Ethics and Triage” panel with Johns Hopkins surgeons, and learned about “Mapping the Spread” from the founder of Esri, which provides location intelligence on coronavirus.

Determined to fact-check with the most trusted experts, I teleported into the houses of the renowned Drs. Anthony Fauci, Sanjay Gupta, and George Gao (Director of China’s CDC) through the National Academy of Sciences. I wanted to unveil whether neurological damage in COVID-19 patients is caused by low oxygen from lung failure or a direct assault on the brain by coronavirus. While scientists still have to fully understand coronavirus to answer with certainty, the enigma inspired me to integrate my two passions--neuroscience and epidemiology--in my future career path.