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LaTina Emerson
Director of Communications
Institute for Biomedical Sciences
Georgia State University
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Passionate about health, Kacey King (B.I.S. ’22) is an aspiring physician who hopes to inspire others to stay in shape.
By LaTina Emerson
ATLANTA — For Kacey King, staying healthy is a social activity.
“I love to work out,” said King, a Biomedical Science and Enterprise major in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences who is graduating this spring. “I actually have my own fitness page on Instagram that encourages women to love their body and stay healthy.”
King posts workout videos at her Instagram handle @kkfitness09 to help women get in shape, feel good and relieve stress without overexerting themselves.
She also participates in Pretty Girls Sweat, a national organization with a chapter on Georgia State’s campus that encourages college women to stay healthy. The organization hosts workouts and other events.
Originally from Spanish Town, Jamaica, and raised in south Florida and McDonough, Ga., King is a first-generation college student. After an injury led to the loss of her ROTC scholarship to Spelman College during her first year, she transferred to Georgia State for her sophomore year.
King embraced campus life at Georgia State and because of her on- and off-campus activities she was nominated for the Nell Hamilton Trotter Award, which recognizes outstanding undergraduate student leaders. The winner is selected in May.
Vice president of membership for the Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity, Alpha Theta Epsilon Chapter, she participates in community service practically every weekend. She also volunteers with Softer Touch, a Georgia State community service and sisterhood organization for women of color, and The Elite School of Etiquette, which teaches etiquette skills to students in kindergarten through third grade.
King is also vice president of the Beta Beta Beta (TriBeta) National Biological Honor Society at Georgia State and participates in Ford First Gen, a mentorship and career development program offered by Ford Motor Co. to first-generation college students. This spring, she will also compete in the university’s Miss Phi Beta Sigma Scholarship Pageant.
She has balanced all of these activities while working at the university’s Office of Academic Advisement for three years.
When King graduates, she plans to enroll in a master’s program to study biotechnology. Ultimately, she would like to attend medical school to pursue pediatrics or family medicine. Her family’s experience with her father’s illness and death stirred her interest in a medical career.
“I think having that personal connection with your patient and their family is very important,” King said. “I like pediatrics and family medicine because being able to stay in someone’s life and help them be happy and healthy is really important to me.”
She became interested in biotechnology when her internship supervisor at the Georgia BioEd Institute piqued her interest in the field. The institute’s goal is to strengthen Georgia’s life sciences workforce pipeline through classroom-to-career initiatives that align with industry needs. It offers professional development for teachers in biotechnology, as well as an equipment depot, a visiting scientist program and awards for student biotechnology projects.
As an intern, King has assisted with administering a survey that will be used to gain future funding for the program. King began the internship in January and plans to stay involved through the summer to help with new initiatives.
She also had the opportunity to participate in a virtual summer internship at Brown University involving malaria research and at Spelman College, where she worked on research related to gonorrhea.
For her, Georgia State was a perfect fit in part because it is relatively close to home.
“I really enjoy the city life,” King said. “I really love the diversity on Georgia State’s campus. I wasn’t really used to a big school, but I also wanted that diversity in friendships and relationships.”
King selected the Biomedical Science and Enterprise major because she liked the program’s small class sizes and the ability it gave her to take a range of courses, from biology and other sciences to art.
“The major allowed me to stay on my premed track, but also gain other skills, like business skills, and I’ve learned to express myself creatively,” King said. “That was really important for me to experience.”
Photo by Carolyn Richardson