The Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship: Opening doors to interdisciplinary research

Abstract

I was honored to receive the 2006–2007 F.V. Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research at the Sahlgrenska Academy of Medicine at Gothenburg University in Sweden. I worked under the supervision of Dr. Kerstin Persson Waye, studying the impact of noise in hospitals on staff and patients. My background and training leading up to my postdoc was in engineering with a specialty in architectural acoustics and noise control. Through the Hunt Fellowship, I was able to deepen my skillset by pursuing interdisciplinary research in occupational and environmental health. I will never forget the excitement of working in an entirely different environment and learning how to navigate both medical terminology and another language simultaneously. The adaptability I gained by facing those challenges served me well on my path to tenure. One of the most fruitful parts of my postdoc from a research standpoint was identifying the many areas of hospital acoustics that needed more work. To this day, I continue to collaborate with students and colleagues in engineering, medicine, and other diverse disciplines to improve healthcare built environments. Ten years later, I can truly say that the F.V. Hunt Fellowship had a profound impact on my life and career path.