Tejus navigates between classes on the Academic Mall and her research lab in the Health Sciences Center.

Student portraits by David Roberts

Tejus Bale
“Looking ahead ten years, I see myself in a position where people trust me. I want to wake up every morning and say, ‘Yeah!’ I want to know I have something to do today that’s going to make a difference.”
—Sophomore, Biochemistry major

When she was in high school in Rockland County, New York, and volunteering with children who had physical, mental, and emotional disabilities, Tejus Bale wondered why some people were given such easy lives and others faced an endless stream of challenges. “The only way I can resolve it in my mind,” says Tejus, “is to say that the people who have the gifts are required to share them.”

Her goal was to find a path that would allow her to share her unique gifts. She enjoyed tutoring, and her peers told her she would make a great teacher. She also excelled in science and was told she’d make a fine scientist. She decided to combine the two and go into medicine. “I want to be someone who can touch people and explain things to people,” she says. “I want to utilize everything I have to better the lives of many.”

Tejus is now in the eight-year Scholars for Medicine program and is conducting neurobiological research in Dr. Irene Solomon’s lab, studying respiratory control at the molecular level. She also volunteers as a Student Ambassador and is vice president of Students Putting an End to Cancer.

“When I was very young, I knew I had to do something to truly exemplify every aspect of myself,” Tejus explains. She is doing just that.