Mollee Brummond | Future Allied Health Professional

A Non-Traditional Student

I'm Mollee Brummond, an undergraduate student with a passion for evidence-based nutrition, healthcare, medical laboratory science, and biomedical research.

My path has been nontraditional, but it's given me the resilience and perspective that fuel my commitment to healthcare. This page tells the story of how I found my calling to be in science and service, overcame disability and academic setbacks, and began using my lived experience to shape my academic and clinical goals.

I am in my early 30s and nearing the completion of my bachelor's degree, but this is not my first attempt. I dropped out of college when I was 19 and my physical and mental health began to deteriorate. After Eight years of ongoing struggle, I realized my passion for nutrition and decided to go back to school. In 2024, I earned my Associate of Science in Health Studies from Metropolitan Community College. In 2026, I will proudly add a Bachelors of Science to my collection.

Career Goals

My primary career goal is to become a registered dietitian. As someone who has personally experienced the harm of diet culture and misinformation, I am driven to help others avoid the same traps.

I have lived at both extremes of the weight spectrum (being underweight and obese) and understand the emotional and physical toll disordered eating can take. I believe this lived experience will make me a more compassionate and effective dietitian who can connect with patients from different walks of life.

I want to help people move beyond black-and-white nutriton thinking. For example, rather than saying "carbs are bad", I want people to understand that glucose is the body's preferred source of energy, and that there are different forms of carbs. They can learn that by pairing their carbs with fat, fiber, and protein, they will avoid those unwanted blood sugar spikes and crashes. The list of nutrition myths is long, but I feel passionate about helping people replace misinformation with evidence and empowerment.

When I first left college at 19, I lacked any alternative career ideas. Life doesn't always go as planned, so I've since developed backup plans that I would find equally fulfilling. After taking so many fascinating science courses, I've idenditifed alternative career paths that would laso allow me to thrive and contribute to science.

If dietetics doesn't work out, I would be happy to become a phyusician assistant, cytotechnologist, medical laboratory scientist, or even pursue a PhD in biochemistry to become a researcher. I've grown to love the investigative nature of clinical work, espeically in lab and diagnostic roles. There's something thrilling about piecing together lab results and signs to form a diagnosis.

Health Journey

Must of my academic delay was due to physical and mental health struggles. I've experienced many disabiling symptoms that couldn't be easily explained, so I spent years in and out of clinics. I had to be my own advocate, do my own research, and fight to be taken seriously. These experiences have shapped my interest in nutrition, patient advocacy, and diagnostic medicine. They've also made me deeply empathetic to others navigating uncertainty in the healthcare system.

I'd like to mention some of of my story. To avoid making this page too long, I've included the top three conditions that have made an impact on me.

Fibromyalgia

Unfortunately, chronic pain has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Every waking moment is filled with a combination of joint, bone, muscular, or nerve pain in varying combinations of body parts. A good day leaves my pain rating a 4 out of 10, while the bad days are a 20 out of 10. When you have chronic pain, you learn to hide it to avoid making other people uncomfortable. This masking of pain and discomfort takes a lot of energy and adds to the fatigue associated with fibromyalgia.

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome

According to the electrophysiologist who diagnosed me with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), COVID-19 has led to an alarming rise in cases. POTS was apparently once an uncommon diagnosis that most doctors had not heard of. My symptoms came on several months after my first COVID-19 infection, so he suspects that is likely the cause for me as well.

POTS is a form of dysautonomia, which is a condition that is caused by a dysfunctional autonomic nervous system. This portion of the nervous system is responsible for the involuntary or automatic functions of the body: heart rate, digestion, breathing, sweating, temperature regulation, blood vessel dilation, etc. It can be thought of as the body's homeostasis regulator. When it is dysfunctional, a constellation of symptoms occur. The hallmark symptom of POTS is lightheadedness due to the inability of the blood vessel in the legs to contstrict and push the blood back up to the heart and brain upon standing. To compensate, the heart beats faster (>30 bpm increase) which leads to the lightheadedness.

Learn more about dysautonomia and POTS here: Dysautonomia International

Erythromelalgia

Erythromelalgia is a hard diagnosis to get because of its rarity and lack of awareness in providers. Thankfully, the rheumatologist and hematologist I saw at NE Medicine in 2022 during my medical journey knew about the condition. Erythromelalgia (EM) occurs in 2 out of 100,000 people. It causes parts of the body (for my its my hands and feet) to become red, hot, and have a burning pain. A colloquial term for EM is "man on fire syndrome", which is a fitting name for the pain it causes. Because of its rarity and different causes, there has not been enough research into proper treatments. Right now, only symptoms get treated and they oftentimes don't work for patients.

The condition is triggered by heat and exercise, which leads to dilation of the capillaries and blood vessels that lead to the symptoms. It is common for sufferers to use ice and cold water to alleviate symptoms, but this causes nerve damage that can worsen symptoms over time.

Learn more about EM here: The Erythromelalgia Association

Personal Life and Interests

Currently, I do not have any human children, but I do have three guinea pigs. For ten years I have been a proud guinea pig parent to some amazing pigs. Right now we have Mr. Bubbles, Abe, and Seamus. These critters are small, but their personalities (and bellies) are enormous!

Since going back to school, its been hard to find time for hobbies. I spend my free time studying or working from home training AI models. When school or work are not an issue then I love to crochet. I taught myself during the COVID-19 pandemic using YouTube videos and practice. I've made many sweaters, hats, scarves, blankets, and some amigarumi creatures. Hopefully when I'm done being a student I can incorporate more crochet in my life. Reading is another hobby that I hope to find more time for in the future. My favorite book genre is horror, but ironically I can't stand horror movies.

I find so much joy in learning and thinking about my favorite science subjects: nutrition science, organic chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, and immunology. When I can apply concepts from these subjects outside of school I get so excited. For example, I love looking at ingredient labels on bottles to see if I can picture the chemical's structure based on the name. I also get excited when the topics I learn in one class get applied or discussed in another class. It usually adds to my comprehension of the topics.