Rashida’s career had always been about helping others, but 80,000 Hours’ ideas and resources helped her amplify her impact — moving from the front lines of healthcare to shaping biosecurity policy at the highest levels.

Rashida spent years caring for critically ill patients in cardiovascular and intensive care units as a nurse, including on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, she took a role as an International Nurse Specialist in Sudan — a low-resource setting where she thought her work would be more impactful.

While she found working with patients rewarding, the long hours, heavy workload, and lack of resources left Rashida searching for a more sustainable path that would still be rewarding and, if possible, help even more people. She found 80,000 Hours through a sponsorship with productivity YouTuber Ali Abdaal, which sparked a shift in how she thought about her career.

Rashida had been interested in public health policy and pandemics since 2009, but working directly with patients in healthcare everyday had conditioned her to only consider more traditional healthcare roles. Reading our career guide helped her to see how she could help many more people with her career by focusing on biosecurity and preventing catastrophic pandemics.

“When I found 80,000 Hours’ career guide, I finally connected my concerns about the health and well-being of future generations with my existing interests in biological risks from pathogens… I found the career guide helpful in getting my thoughts out of my head and onto paper. I was able to articulate my goals in writing. I also liked how practical the guide was. It wasn’t offering over simplistic career advice. I like staying grounded in reality, sketching out plans and backup plans, and rigorously investigating each plan.”

But leaving nursing still wasn’t an easy choice for her.

“It can be challenging for nurses to leave their careers, especially if they’ve been working for a while. I didn’t have many role models for how a pivot away from the nursing field would work. While nursing develops excellent general skills in task management, communication, and critical thinking, many of my skills were not transferable. Financial risks were also a serious consideration. It was difficult to consider relinquishing the seniority and experience I had gained… One of my first significant challenges was accepting more risk to pursue a more impactful career.”

A call with Abby from our 1-1 advising team helped her explore what this shift might actually look like. They discussed her career priorities and mapped out the ways her experience and skills could contribute to a policy role in biosecurity. Abby’s support gave Rashida the confidence to bring her healthcare insights to policy discussions, even without a traditional background in government. Following Abby’s introductions and advice, Rashida connected with professionals in the field, eventually applying to the Horizon Institute for Public Service’s fellowship program.

Today, Rashida is a Horizon Congressional Fellow with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. She collaborates with national security experts to reduce biorisks, supporting bipartisan investigations into high-risk biological research, synthetic biology, biosurveillance and defense, and pandemic prevention strategies. For example, she has worked on committee hearings on the origins of COVID-19 and oversight of high-risk virus research, and supported investigative work on supply-chain resilience issues and personal protective equipment manufacturing.