Gomez to speak at Missouri Southern State University symposium in October

Crowder Cassville RN student Anahi Gomez, of Washburn, had a 0.00 college GPA in 2022 after three attempts at furthering her education — now she’s the first Crowder student to be published in an academic journal.

A 2015 graduate of a high school in Chicago, Gomez said she moved to Barry County in 2021 to focus on herself and make positive changes in her life.

“I wasn’t planning to go back to school,” she said. “When I moved here, i was focusing on myself, and I think being in isolation helped with that. I lost weight and decided I wanted to go back to school and improve every aspect of my life.”

Gomez said she had gone to college before, but circumstances caused her to withdraw, many times after the specified withdrawal date to avoid a failing grade.

“As a first-generation college student, I don’t think I understood the seriousness of it and the timing,” she said. “I started Cassville in 2022 to go for my RN, and after that, I plan to pursue a master’s in forensic nursing.”

Gomez said to help her navigate a return to higher education — under academic suspension — she focused on taking general education courses, though she had no idea the impact one would have on her life. “In English 101, [with professor Kayla Branstetter], we were assigned an argumentative paper on a topic we felt was important, and we had to back it up with sources and facts,” Gomez said. “After it was done, Mrs. Branstetter asked if I had ever considered submitting to an academic research publication. I thought it sounded like something only doctors do.”

After determining the submission process and months of patience, Gomez was alerted her paper was selected for the peer review process. The paper, entitled “Biological Sex and the Medical Community: At what point is it medically necessary to know the biological sex of a patient?” was published on June 13 in the Journal of Student Research.

“The paper is about the importance of a healthcare provider to know the biological sex of a patient to provide the best treatment and medical care for that patient,” she said. “I wrote it because of the trans movement and because it is a sensitive topic, where people may be offended easily and caregivers may be afraid to ask.”

Recognizing the controversy surrounding the topic, Gomez said the purpose is centered around one goal — care.

“This is about how to provide the best care because different disorders affect different sexes because of things like reproductive organs,” she said. “If a caregiver does not know a person has certain reproductive organs, they may not be looking for the correct illnesses. Chromosomes also do not change, and biological males may be susceptible to certain illnesses due to those chromosomes.”

The case of when a full disclosure of birth gender to caregivers is necessary will be the center of a presentation Gomez is making in October, selected after submission of the paper to the Artful Medicine Symposium at Missouri Southern State University.

“My goal is to strengthen the importance of this topic because I don’t feel we talk about it enough,” she said. “I am in nursing school, and this topic hasn’t come up. I feel it’s becoming a more common thing, and it’s important to address, whether you agree with a person’s lifestyle or you don’t.”

With one publication under her belt, Gomez said she is building confidence in her abilities and is working on another paper for submission.

“I have another one about how our daily lives contribute to the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S., cardiovascular disease,” she said. “It focuses on the top four most common diseases.”

Gomez said she was honored to be published, and alongside other students from much larger institutions.

“When I saw all the papers from the bigger schools, like Harvard, I said to myself I’d have to email them because they didn’t even have a Crowder logo,” she said.

Gomez is set to graduate in December 2024, intending to pursue her master’s thereafter.

“I want people to know that at any point they choose to, they can change their whole life,” she said. “When there is a will, there is a way. Even if your legs are shaking because of how nervous and uncomfortable you are in a new drastic positive lifestyle change, keep going, because only then will greatness become your new lifestyle.

“If you are struggling with if you can do something or not, go for it. You will gain confidence, and there’s no limit to what you can do.”

Gomez’s published work may be viewed at: https://www.jsr.org/index. php/path/article/view/1891.