Pope is a personal trainer and first-year medical student at the Noorda College of Osteopathic Medicine with a passion for combining Osteopathic principles and natural Native American medicine.

Even though Pope grew up next to a reservation in Gilbert, Arizona, she wasn’t always aware of her Cherokee heritage.

“There was just very little conversation that took place about what was over there, there were really no other kids in my school that were actually Native Americans,” Pope said. “I look different, people just don’t know what I am. That was always really weird to me because I didn’t have a clear answer at first.”

When Pope learned at age 12 that she was Native American, she began working through her church to find her exact lineage.

“It was actually a really cool experience because it helped me kind of figure out, ‘okay, this is really what makes me me — what makes me different,'” Pope said. “It was a really fun time in my life where I got to explore that side that I had never really known, especially because it was so close to me and I didn’t know anything about it.”

Pope began to volunteer on the reservation near her home, allowing her to get in touch with her identity.

“It allowed me to see first-hand what life was like on the reservation, and it also allowed me to see a lot of the disparities that occurred,” Pope said. “It made me realize how much of an impact those cultural experiences had on me, and how it shaped my perspective on life around me.”

In high school, Pope became an athlete, igniting her passion for health and fitness and inspiring her to become a personal trainer.

Although Pope is a firm believer in the benefits of modern medicine, she is a proponent of using Native principles like meditation, diet, and introspection to improve overall wellness in her clients.

“I’m a firm believer in science, I think that the scientific advancements and modern western medicine are phenomenal, there’s a reason we have the best doctors in the world here,” Pope said. “But there’s also a lot of problems with our healthcare, and that’s what a lot of people don’t talk about. … There are so many ways that you can help yourself.”

Pope believes it is essential to focus on the entire self, mind, body, and spirit, in order to be truly healthy. However, she believes that there is more work to be done breaking down cultural barriers before a more holistic approach to wellness will be commonly accepted alongside traditional medicine.

“There’s just so many cultural barriers,” Pope said. “We don’t want to look at things that we’re not used to. … I just think there are so many important principles we can take from Native Americans.”

Although she doesn’t know what the future will hold after medical school, Pope has a dream to open a wellness clinic where people can receive all kinds of help — from osteopathic medicine to other lifestyle-related and natural remedies.

“A lot of my identity is really intertwined in what I’m doing now, and I think that’s super awesome,” Pope said.