DANIELA VELASQUEZ
ADVISORY BOARD/ALUMNI
Daniela Velasquez is a life-long member of Gapbuster, Inc. Since joining in the sixth grade, her trip to South Africa as a HIV/AIDS peer educator sparked her interest in biology and the public health sector. Since then, she had made it her goal to become a first generation college graduate and accomplished just that in 2018 with a degree in Biology and minor in molecular biology, biochemistry, and bioinformatics from Towson University. During her undergraduate career, she was able to start the first collegiate LULAC council in Maryland with her college roommate, Fresia Blanco, who is also Gapbuster alumni. Both Fresia and Daniela wanted to create a safe space and advocate for the Latinx community on campus due to lack of representation. As a result, they sought out multiple volunteer opportunities such as mentoring and tutoring for the Latinx community. Since then, Daniela continued to become involved on campus and became a member of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. and served as a Resident Assistant. When the school year came to a close, she served as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) intern and volunteer.
After graduation, she sought out medical opportunities such as shadowing various specialities in the Maryland area and serving as a medical scribe. She is now pursuing her graduate degree in biomedical science at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and plans to apply to medical school the following year.