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Grace Buck, a senior studying Health Informatics, has been recognized for her demonstrated leadership and excellence in the areas of health informatics.
Grace Buck, a senior studying Health Informatics in the Department of Health Administration and Policy, has been awarded a scholarship from the Health Information and Management Systems Society-National Capital Area chapter (HIMSS-NCA). The HIMSS-NCA scholarship is awarded annually to high-achieving students in the health management and health information systems field. Buck has been recognized for her demonstrated leadership in the classroom and excellence in the areas of health informatics.
Currently, Buck is also a Student Pathways intern at the National Institute on Aging within the National Institutes of Health. The opportunity has allowed her to apply knowledge from her studies in the field such as using data visualization software like Tableau.
“My experience as a Pathways intern has been very exciting,” says Buck on the prestigious internship that she discovered through Mason’s Career Services. She notes that Career Services’ various career fairs and workshops have shaped her professional development in addition to the technical skills she’s gained through the College’s Health Administration degree program.
“I remember how excited I was when I was first introduced to Tableau and SQL,” says Buck, recalling the highlights of her experience within her program. “It was so cool to see how simple it was to turn complex data into simplistic and easy-to-understand visuals and to use queries to easily pull data from large files.”
In one of her Health Informatics courses on data analysis, Buck taught a lecture about SQL. Her professor for that class, Dr. Farrokh Alemi, was impressed by her leadership and excellence.
“I am sure she will continue her spectacular performance as the class proceeds,” he wrote in her letter of recommendation for the HIMSS-NCA scholarship.
Buck is expected to graduate in fall of 2021. Her post-undergraduate plans include converting her current internship into a full-time position with the National Institute on Aging. Further in her future, she hopes to pursue a Master’s in Health Informatics and discover new opportunities in her field.