Ganesa Wegienka '94

For Ganesa Wegienka ’94, life is about enjoying what she does on a daily basis.

As an epidemiologist at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, where she studies disease causation and risk factors, she is happily living up to her mantra.

“I took every opportunity given to me, and I tried different things and found something that works for me,” says Wegienka. “Knowing that what I do has the objective of improving people’s health and lives is really cool.”

She describes science as “a team sport” and says collaborating with her colleagues is another reason she enjoys her work so much. Even after eight years at Henry Ford, Wegienka hasn’t closed the book on learning.

“My job is a great balance between quantitative—I draw a lot on my math background—and a lot of writing, which I enjoy,” she says. “I am constantly learning something new.”

Wegienka applied this same drive to learn while at Alma College, where she studied mathematics and German.

“Alma is a nurturing environment, so you can just focus on learning, which is important,” she says. “My experience here prepared me academically for the rigors of graduate school. It also taught me how to multi-task when you have more to do than you can possibly get done.”