Alyssa Davila ’19: When Science and Helping Others Meet
Alyssa Davila ’19, like so many other students, came to Covenant with a broad idea of what she wanted to study but no clear picture of where those studies would lead her long-term. One thing she knew for sure though: she had a love for the sciences as well as a desire to help others.
An MTW missionary kid, Alyssa grew up in Chile and Costa Rica, where her parents served as church planters. Like many missionary kids, she had an important role in serving the church as well—translating for short-term mission teams and helping put on church conferences and camps. She grew up hearing about Covenant College and had the opportunity to visit the campus as a high schooler during one of her family’s home assignments. During that visit, she found herself drawn to the biology program and decided that Covenant was a good fit for her.
Reflecting on her time at Covenant, Alyssa says: “I appreciated the community I built while a student at Covenant. The majority of my friends were fellow missionary kids or international students who could relate to feeling different from others. My community gave me a place to feel seen and loved in a way I hadn't been before. I am thankful for the Covenant friends I still keep up with to this day.”
Finding Her Path in the Sciences
As Alyssa progressed through the biology program, she began to consider how she could marry her love for the sciences and her desire to help other people. “I knew early into my time at Covenant that I did not want to go to medical or nursing school,” she recalls, “but I wasn't sure where to go from there. When I graduated in 2019, I lived in Chattanooga and worked for one of the hospitals as a lab assistant. This job exposed me to all kinds of healthcare-related careers which taught me what I did not want to do but did not provide clarity on what I did want to do.”
Alyssa moved to Colorado in 2021, where she worked as a specialty lab assistant in a pathology lab. However, through a turn of events, she ended up working in a molecular lab where her career finally "clicked." Now, Alyssa works as a clinical laboratory technologist for the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine Biobank. The biobank uses genetic testing to support research and help healthcare providers better understand how a person's unique genetic makeup may influence their health and medical care. For participants who choose to receive their results, this information can help guide decisions about screening, diagnosis, and treatment, contributing to a more personalized approach to healthcare. Finally, she’d found a place that allowed her to channel both her love for science and desire to serve others.
Her enjoyment of her work caught her by surprise. She had initially written off the profession after working alongside laboratory technologists in hospital settings because they seemed bored and irritated with their jobs. She also confesses that, at the time, she found her cellular and molecular biology class at Covenant boring and remembers thinking it would never apply to her life: “Sorry, Dr. Nelson! I learned my lesson.”
Now that she’s found the right field for her, Alyssa has gone on to earn her molecular biology technologist certification and complete a graduate certificate program in genomic and personalized medicine: “I really enjoy combining my love for biology with helping people. As a lab assistant, I was patient-facing and while I am grateful for that experience, I realized I am better at helping people when I can do it from behind the scenes. Now that I do genetic testing as part of my job, I find fulfillment in giving patients results that are actionable and unique to them. Our DNA shapes so much of how our bodies work and as someone who is chronically ill and disabled, having the chance to help others understand their bodies is fulfilling.”
Gratitude for Her Time at Covenant
Alyssa’s experience at Covenant in the biology department prepared her well for her career as a technologist: “I am grateful to have had Dr. Morris and Dr. Nelson as my biology professors because they both challenged me academically and intellectually. They laid a solid foundation of biological knowledge that I still stand on today. Covenant's challenging academic environment taught me how to be resilient and confident in solving problems and finding solutions throughout my career.”
For those who might be interested in pursuing the field, Alyssa recommends shadowing at a molecular lab or working as an assistant or a technologist trainee. She also recommends the molecular biology technologist certification that ASCP (American Society for Clinical Pathology) offers since it both prepares you for work within the field of molecular biology and helps you explore other fields in which you can specialize as a lab technologist.
The Lord often surprises us with the career paths He leads us down, but as Alyssa has discovered, He uses the gifts He gives us for good—and often beyond what we can imagine.