Rachel first experienced the power of POP at age 13 when her godfather underwent an amputation to address a firefighting injury. During his rehabilitation process, she was inspired to explore a career in POP. With support from her family, Rachel pursued an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering as the initial step in her POP education journey.

Rachel developed a deeper understanding of the difference POP professionals can make by shadowing prosthetic and orthotic practitioners and interacting with patients. She loves the hands-on training the prosthetics and orthotics program at Northwestern University offers. Rachel hopes to bring her POP skills to rural areas and improve access to POP services for her future patients.