Meet Jesse Walker | Microbiologist & Technologist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jesse Walker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jesse, what do you attribute your success to?
I truly believe that the most important factor behind success is believing yourself, not only believing yourself but it is so incredibly important to surround yourself with people that also believe in you. Surrounding yourself with these people who see your determination and passion even in some of your lower moments helps build your confidence which is a major key of success as well.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a Microbiologist and Technologist in a medical lab. I work in Tuberculosis testing and processing. I am very proud of my work daily it is very satisfying to run tests from raw specimens and get to see the results under fluorescent and oil immersion microscopy. I look for the identification of AFB (acid fast bacteria) which then the organism will be sent for further identification. My work does require an incredible amount of detail and focus because these specimens do belong to people who are waiting on my results so it feels great at the end of the day to also know I am helping others.

It honestly was not very easy to get to where I am at today professionally. I struggled a lot in college for the first few years. I have diagnosed ADD which I was embarrassed about at the time and struggled to address. I’m also a transman and decided to medically transition my sophomore year. These two things really created a lot of mental challenges that I struggled with. I knew that I loved science and specifically biology but I took a lot of time to reflect about what I wanted in my life and I knew that I needed to make changes to take care of myself and succeed which ultimately led me to transfer to UM away from home where I thrived. There were a lot of people who couldn’t see the end goal for me. I knew that this is what I wanted and that definitely goes back to surrounding yourself with right people. I take a lot of pride in who I am today and a lot of that is because of the challenges that I have faced.

The biggest lesson that I have learned the past few years it is that determination goes a long way. If you stay focused and are passionate about what you want to do you can do anything you set your mind to. I am definitely not finished with where I want to be in my career I plan to go to grad school and get my PhD in biology and become a college professor.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was to come and visit ATL I would absolutely take them out to eat at Eats for some jerk chicken and southern home cooking! Coffee is a must sometimes twice a day so we would make a stop at Caribou coffee in midtown then walk over the beautiful piedmont park for an insane view of the city. The Tabernacle is one of the most beautiful venues for a great concert so we would go see a show. Of course we would definitely hit up the beautiful Georgia aquarium on a relaxing Sunday to end the weekend!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to my beautiful wife Christina who has always supported and believed in me. My amazing group of friends who have always seen my potential even when I didn’t see it myself. My mom Rebecca, My dad Chris, my sister Katlyn, and others in my family. Last but not least my Professors at the University of Montevallo Dr, Tinsley and Dr, Tidwell who believed in me and inspired me to become the scientist that I am today.

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