As a member of a national scientific community devoted to evidence-based medicine, Peggy Nygren works to promote public health standards and practices for Americans.

Nygren is one of 1,500 research scientists at Oregon Health and Science University. Her 20-member team develops reports of preventive and screening services.

A psychology major at Quinnipiac, Nygren says she benefited from the diverse disciplines among her psychology professors, as well as personal attention.

"Coming from a high school with more than 6,000 students, it was so nice to have individual quality time with my professors," she said.

"I developed my interest in child development and research during my undergraduate years at Quinnipiac, where I was introduced to the intricacies of a well-designed research project while working on the Infant Health and Development Program," Nygren said.

Her undergraduate fieldwork served as a solid foundation for Nygren's career in research. "I took part in experiments of all sorts-from how to get laboratory rats to perform on a mock Olympic obstacle course to camping out at a local grocery store to better understand gender roles and who was really 'bringing home the bacon,'" she said.

While Nygren deals with many serious health issues in her work, she says it's important to maintain a sense of humor. "To move ahead in any field and in life, you need to be able to smile and learn from your mistakes and vulnerabilities."