Kristina Venzke grew up in the country near the small town of Frytown, Iowa, just south of Iowa City. Her love of travel and education led her to pursue a dual BA degree in French and Communications from the University of Iowa and then an MA in International Administration from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. After her studies, she spent over two years in Moundou, Chad with the Peace Corps, teaching English and working on public health projects. After Peace Corps, she returned to Iowa and her interest in public health led to working in the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. While there, she engaged in a variety of projects geared towards research and grants administration, ultimately serving as the Deputy Director for the Center for International Rural and Environmental Health (CIREH) for ten years. CIREH was funded by NIH training grants and focused on providing global health research training experiences for graduate and undergraduate students from the University of Iowa and for students from international collaborating institutions primarily in Central and Eastern Europe and West Africa. Most recently, Kristina came to ISA from the College of Engineering where she served as the Assistant to the Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, Research and Faculty and then as the Department Administrator for Biomedical Engineering. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, writing, hiking, playing with her three cats (Bohannon, Skitters, and June) and traveling with her husband, Jeff.