ABOUT
"Your desire to succeed must be greater than your fear of failure."
I am Meybelyn Bauza, a proud gator at the University of Florida and a first-generation student with Cuban roots. As a balanced bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish, I aspire to serve patients in both languages as a clinical neuropsychologist. My goal is gain diverse knowledge and apply it to ensure my future patients feel understood, comfortable, and motivated to seek the care they deserve.
Research Interests
Color Psychology
Autism
Bilingualism
Alzheimer's Disease
Genetics
Skills
Adaptability
When devising the methodology for my honors thesis, I had planned to use an fMRI to investigate cortical activation. However, the use of an fMRI would be costly and could not be covered by undergraduate grants. My mentor suggested the use of an EEG, but this would involve changing the aims of my study and the methodology. I considered the pros and cons, ultimately, deciding to change the neuroimaging tool and formulating new aims to change my thesis focus. This new focus allowed the study to proceed with the correct materials available for use.
Leadership
Within my autism lab, we began a retrospective cohort study investigating the use of quicker ASD evaluation tools that had been previously implemented. The mentor that had led the study had moved and the study needed a new leader to finalize data collection, analysis, and reports. I volunteered to claim responsibility for finalizing the incomplete tasks and working with the team to ensure the results gathered would be published and disseminated for other clinics to gain access to. Our finalized findings are now being prepared for journal submission.
Cultural Awareness
When visiting other countries, even those that speak the same language such as Spanish, there are many words or traditions that could be frowned upon in their country but normal in yours. Therefore, before visiting Mexico and Spain, I did research into their customs and common phrases. When I finally visited, I was able to communicate with the locals, order different foods, and celebrate their holidays with them. Relating this to healthcare, patients should feel welcomed and comfortable during their evaluations so that they can easily communicate all their concerns and symptoms to the doctor.
Analytical Thinking
During the CARS-2 study, we had collected data on many participants and had to determine a way to analyze it. We began looking into various factors and how they could affect our main intervention: a quicker evaluation tool. As a result, I used analytical thinking to determine the most important factors: insurance type and race, and decided on using a 3-way ANOVA statistical analysis to interpret the results of that data.
Collaboration
To develop my honors thesis, I had various fields I planned to combine. In order to achieve the result I desired, I had to present and ask multiple mentors of different specialities to collaborate with me: EEG specialist, fMRI and AI specialist, neuropsychologists, computer science student, and cognitive neuroscience psychology. Together, we all collaboratively comment on each specialty ensuring that the study remains expert-level for each aspect it encompasses sparking my love for multidisciplinary research.