Ah, friends of I want to be a doctor, Take care of somebody that gets sick.

And I think of public health, specifically infectious disease.

Side is Yeah, that's that's great.

I think about what happens when seven billion people get sick.

My name's Nicholas Kelly.

I'm a research associate at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy here You.

As I was finishing up my undergrad and biology, I realized public health was what I wanted it up doing.

I had a passion for infectious disease and helping people.

And, uh, as I started looking at schools in places to go, it became pretty clear to me that you mercy Minnesota was gonna be one of the best programs I could go to.

Came here and did my Masters worked on influenza related issues for my master's project.

I realized I loved what I did.

I love talking to people about it, and I wanted to teach and to teach.

I I needed to get a PhD, and I've been working with influenza since I started here in 2006 1 of the fantastic things that was here at the U.

Is the biomed library.

And, uh, I couldn't have imagined doing what I did without the biomed library going back to studies from the thirties and forties and digging into the archives that the U has.

You can't find these things online, and we had them on the shelves.

I even ended up finding a study that was done here at the U one of the first influenza vaccine trials and things like that or just it was pretty exciting.

And to be able to have those resource is was phenomenal.

And then those resources beyond that with, you know, the other expertise we had here like, if there was a question about, well, this kind of testing or the study design or whatnot, I just You have to walk down the hall.

I mean, there's people here that are experts in those fields so that it was kind of a one stop shop for me to be able to do this huge review of influence vaccines.

I first met Nick when he was undergraduate at Luther College and decor, Iowa.

At the time he shared with me his loving enthusiasm for public Caliban Infection sees a peanut allergy anytime.

Ah young student like that comes forward.

Obviously, it catches your attention.

But in this instance, Nick already had a good sense of where he wanted to go on what he wanted to do, and it was my job to try to help him get there.

He's been my adviser and mentor through this process and is just phenomenal to work with because he's internationally renowned for his work on several topics, including influenza.

But he's very personable and down to earth.

You know, it's one of those things where sometimes you wonder he's internationally known.

Does that mean he's gonna make time for me to work with me toe, You know, discuss, You know, on abstract er you know, simple things that I was doing.

And there was always that time he always made himself available toe to meet with me, or I see that with other students.

And it was just that passion that he is dudes for teaching and bringing up that next generation of researchers.

This fellowship really represents a real honor.

Uh, this is one of the most highly coveted spots that anyone today in academia or government could try to achieve as a young upcoming professional I think it says a lot about Nick's not only his current capability, but his future potential impact on a number of areas, including the public health, epidemiology, the whole area biosecurity, government, academia interface.

I have no doubt that Nick Kelly's career is just starting in by the time he decides that he's done have made truly monumental contributions to the overall safety of the world.