I'll Be Saving Lives

Elisheva Swartz, LCW '13, TCOP '17, shares her journey to pharmacy.

October 14, 2014
ELISHEVA SWARTZ: When I think about what my research could be doing, it's an awesome feeling. It's a slow process, but, you know, in the long run, this is the way that nearly every scientific discovery is made. And I'm just one player in a team of thousands working towards the same goal, and we're all hoping to stumble upon the right thing.

We're trying to establish a connection between certain species of bacteria and lung disease, drawing connections between oral health and systemic health, which is the health of your whole body. I'm spending my time learning about how the physical world is built, from the atoms and the molecules, all the way up. It's just exhilarating.

What's amazing to me about research is that down the road, I'll be saving lives. I'm excited about the future, because right now, everything that I'm learning is still in theory. But once I finish school, I'll be able to take it from the theoretical and into the practical. Day in, day out, to work hands on with people and making a difference. That's what I'm working for. It's a privilege to be able to work in this field.

Like molecular theory itself, becoming a scientist involves starting with germs of knowledge and watching that expertise grow. Lander College for Women 2013 graduate and current Touro College of Pharmacy Class of 2017 student Elisheva Swartz is midway through her development from curious undergraduate to future pharmacist. Her mission is to research ardently and consume theory about what ails and rehabilitates human beings and, one day, put that all into practice. “It’s exhilarating," she says. "I'm spending my time learning about how the physical world is built."