After becoming emancipated from the foster care system at seventeen, his health began to rapidly decline due to a failing transplanted kidney. While dialysis took away many things from him, it also gave him clarity. He now knew the tough decisions and sacrifices that end-stage renal disease patients had to make. How great would it be to have a physician help you navigate difficult situations that he, himself, had experienced? In 2021, he participated in UAB’s Kidney Undergraduate Research Experience (KURE) which further solidified his love for kidney medicine and kidney research. He returned to his home university with a newfound passion for research. Here, he would develop a novel method for isolating bacteriophage from soil samples. Bacteriophage will likely one day be key therapies in the war against antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections as we continue to render current antibiotic therapies less and less effective. Jared is an inaugural winner of Scientist.com’s STEM Research NIL Award.