Then and Now: SM grad finishes degree at Yale

Lea Papa is in wonder at how the brains of babies and their mothers develop and change before and after birth. Papa, a senior at Yale University, studies those changes as a student and plans to delve deeper into the topic in graduate school after graduation. 

Four years ago, as a senior at South Milwaukee High School, Papa had already set her eye on neuroscience, and studying it in college only confirmed her fascination with the field of study. 

“When I came into college, I was interested in more end-of-life diseases,” like dementia, she said. 

But when she started research at Yale’s Before and After Baby Lab at the Child Study Center of the Yale School of Medicine at the end of her freshman year and at the start of her sophomore year, she became hooked on how the brain develops during pregnancy.

“Watching parents interact with their children is what got me interested in the first place,” Papa said. “I’ve switched from end of life to beginning of life. My ultimate goal is to try to do pediatric neurology.”

Papa was born in Albania, and when she was four years old, her parents were selected to come to the United States as part of the immigration lottery. The family landed in South Milwaukee, and Papa attended Rawson Elementary School, where she learned to speak and read English. She continued to excel at her studies in middle and high school and received a four-year QuestBridge scholarship to Yale in 2022.

Back then, she remembers feeling unsure about traveling so far away from home and worried that she might not be up to the challenge of attending an Ivy League school. 

“Part of my worry was that I wouldn’t know anyone. I was worried that I was going to fall behind everyone else. That wasn’t the case,” she said. “When I came here the first semester, I realized I was capable of keeping up with everyone else.”

Papa said she has grown as a student and in her own self-confidence in her three years in college. She’s currently in the analysis part of her senior thesis and has her eye on cementing her goal of becoming a doctor. 

“I’m applying to med school next summer, so I can get more experience in clinical settings and research,” she said. 

When asked what advice she has for the current students in South Milwaukee, she encourages them to embrace their passion and not to fear standing out from the crowd.

“A lot of high schoolers are very concerned about seeming too invested in something or too passionate about something,” she said. “Part of that experience is learning about yourself. What use is that if you don’t allow (yourself) the space to learn who you are?”