I’m in my final year of MD and PhD degrees at Howard College of Medicine and Yale School of Public Health. I study the link between the social neighborhood environment, lifestyle behaviors and cancer risk and outcomes. I use translational research with various types of data to identify structural and interpersonal modifiable risk factors to inform cancer prevention policy and interventions. My work aims to shift the perspective from a model that places the onus on the individual to adopt healthy lifestyles to a model that identifies upstream factors responsible for individuals’ inability to engage and maintain healthful lifestyles.