Gloria was a college freshman studying math and economics when she stumbled upon an Orthotics, Prosthetics, and Pedorthics information session held in the same room where she served as a Teacher’s Assistant. “On a slide were the five things I was telling people I wanted in my dream job,” Gloria recalls. Those things were math and science focus, hands-on experience, helping people directly, being open to missions and opportunities for inventing.

Gloria is now an instructor at Northwestern’s Prosthetics-Orthotics Center (NUPOC) where she can combine her love of teaching with her experiences in patient care and desire to make the field more diverse and inclusive. Chair of NUPOC’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D.E.I.) Council, Gloria understands how racial and socioeconomic disparities can make it hard for patients to get the care they need. She loves building relationships with her students and encourages them to have a growth mindset. Gloria hopes to bring more diversity into the field and teach future POP professionals that patients and people come first.