While I once admired the seemingly linear path of my peers, I now have a growing appreciation of my less linear path. Having personally realized the transformative qualities of music, I too wished to similarly impact others through the power of songwriting. My pursuit of medicine occurred halfway through my undergraduate education upon the realization that this field could more tangibly impact others. Refining my focus to pediatrics and later neonatal-perinatal medicine followed my reflexive desire to care for both the sick newborn and the suffering parent. Music continues to provide a restorative role, offering resilience amidst a highly demanding profession.

My interest in pulmonary outcomes and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) first materialized as a clinical passion for ventilatory management fostered by my co-mentor, Dr. Waldemar Carlo. When taking call, I enjoyed spending the nights familiarizing myself with each infants’ lung physiology and utilizing bedside cardiorespiratory data to appraise the success of iterative revisions to respiratory management. This exercise culminated in observational research questions related to respiratory care. Dr. Carlo helped me take these questions, formulate a formal research approach, and translate bedside observations into first author manuscripts in Journal of Perinatology1 related to oxygen saturation targeting practices by providers and in Pediatric Research2 regarding noninvasive respiratory support strategies in extremely preterm infants that later progressed to a multi-center investigation within the NICHD Neonatal Research Network relating the duration of noninvasive respiratory support exposure to respiratory outcomes.3