Erika Brandt

LEAD Scholars Academy

LDR3950: LEAD Capstone

Dr. Virginia Koch

February 10, 2024

My Leadership Vision Board represents my career goals in the Healthcare field, recent leadership experiences and personal philosophy, personal goals, and current lifestyle.

The first picture I want to talk about on my Leadership Vision Board are my notes taken during Organic I lecture, I included this picture because I will be studying hard for the next 10 or more years to hopefully become a Cardiologist, represented in the picture above it with the heart, stethoscope and ecg waves. For this to happen, I need to get into med school after finishing my undergrad in Health Science with a Biology Minor, then do residency, fellowship, and get board certified; each of these comes with various steps and requirements that will be done in the future. The reason I want to become a cardiologist is because I recently shadowed an Electrophysiologist who has been an inspiration for me due to his hard work and good work ethics; the picture next to my notes was taken while I shadowed him and the notes I am holding will be used for a research paper I will hopefully have published by the end of the year about Autonomic Dysfunction, an impairment in the nervous system that can be present mostly in 50 year old woman.

In addition, I included a picture of a person helping another one to get to the top of a cliff because my leadership style has always been of a servant leader. I prioritize working with a group who want to input their energy towards an impact to society; and I like to do this by serving people around me or people in need. I have worked with many nonprofit organizations like Red Cross, St. Katherine Drexel Church, and Be The Match who’s mission is to serve the community; my morals align with this principles, therefore, now I choose to LEAD as those organizations taught me. This type of leadership ties back to my career goals because as a physician I will be the head of a team whose goal is going to be to serve the patients and give them optimal care. Currently, I am part of the Be The Match e-board on campus, now called NMDP, as the Volunteer Recruiter Officer/Social Media Coordinator. Our goal is to look for people who are willing to be bone marrow donors to sign up onto our registry and potentially help people who need a bone marrow transplant. My personal job is to recruit other volunteers and raise awareness about our cause.

I also included on my Vision Board a picture of my family, my mom, and my dad, because they have been, and will continue to be, a big support during my career and my personal life. I included another picture symbolizing a family between a person’s hands because one day I want to have a family of my own, marry someone and have children after I graduate medical school.

The last three pictures represent my current lifestyle and hobbies. I like working out, especially Running and Pilates. Running takes a lot of discipline, I prepare by meditating, getting enough sleep, carb loading, drinking plenty of water and electrolytes, and getting enough protein. Likewise, I’m always eager to learn healthy recipes I can cook to keep up my healthy lifestyle: I always try to include mostly vegan proteins, vegetables, unrefined carbs, and dairy that contains probiotics or prebiotics. Finally, I like taking care of plants, I have over 30 plants that I oversee everyday either by misting, pruning, or watering them. All these hobbies and lifestyle choices require passion, dedication, hard work, and persistence; qualities needed for leadership roles, career goals, and life in general.  These four quantities mentioned above are needed in the healthcare industry because it will make the staff better at their jobs and patients will be happy with the care they have been provided; therefore, I think my lifestyle and my hobbies are preparing me to be a better healthcare worker in the future.

I want my future to be balanced, meaning that I want to focus on my career and in my studies to become a physician, but also, I want to have a loving family of my own and keep having my alone time taking care of plants, cooking healthy recipes, and working out. This requires dedication and leadership skills that I have developed and will keep developing during my life.