An athletic child, Shandra Trantham, PhD ’24, enjoyed running and gymnastics. When she started having trouble balancing on the beam, then walking in a straight line, her family knew a doctor’s visit was warranted.

At age 12, Trantham was diagnosed with Friedreich’s ataxia, or FA, a rare genetic disorder that affects about 1 in 50,000 Americans. There’s currently no cure for FA, which damages the nervous system and causes progressive loss of muscle coordination.

After her symptoms were brushed off by medical providers, Trantham decided to dedicate her time to researching potential cures for FA and other related disorders.

At the UF College of Medicine, students and alumni like Trantham understand firsthand what it’s like to face health challenges and the impact disabilities can have on well-being and everyday life. They are sharing their journeys with others interested in pursuing similar careers and using their experiences to help future patients with similar diagnoses.

According to 2024 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, more than 1 in 4 Americans has a disability. However, the number of physicians with disabilities does not mirror the nation’s population: Only about 3% of doctors in the U.S. have reported a disability, per data from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The number of researchers with reported disabilities is even lower. In fact, a 2022 article published by the National Institutes of Health showed representation of principal investigators with disabilities in academia declined between 2008 and 2022 from 2% to 1.3%, even though the overall number of people with disabilities joining the workforce increased during the same time period.

Jenna Gonzalez, director of the UF Disability Resource Center, said representation is critical for both patients and aspiring health professionals and researchers with disabilities.

“Working with a doctor who shares similarities to you can help create a connection that brings a source of comfort,” she said.

For Payton Bogert, seeing the positive impact a care team can have during recovery from a serious illness served as a significant inspiration for her career path.

The rising fourth-year medical student is on her way to achieving her goal of becoming a pediatric oncologist, helping patients who are in the same situation she once faced.

At age 1, Bogert was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that affects nerve cells. Although she made a full recovery, her treatments caused her to develop profound hearing impairment. Bogert cannot hear higher frequencies unless those sounds are as loud as an airplane taking flight.

On her clinical rotations, Bogert uses a speech-totext converter on a tablet to gain information from the colleagues, peers and patients she interacts with. When meeting with hard of hearing patients, she shares her tablet screen with them, so they can read the captions as well.

“That’s helped me to spark a relationship with a patient I’m meeting for the first time,” Bogert said.

Bogert said she has particular empathy for patients who are just learning to navigate the issues that often arise with a disability, whether they are hard of hearing or have lost a limb to amputation.

“It’s really valuable to just be able to say, ‘This is extremely hard, and I know having a disability can be life-altering, but there are so many resources out there that if you spend a few hours researching, will open a wide world of opportunities to you,’” she said.

Trantham, who recently graduated with her doctoral degree from the College of Medicine, has found meaning in working independently to make progress in treatment for rare diseases like FA.

Though she felt a lack of support from her care team growing up, the “do it myself attitude” she said she’s adopted has enabled her to make great progress in her field.

She spent the past five years at UF developing gene therapies for a condition even rarer than FA called TECPR2-associated disease. One of the potential therapies she developed may be a viable option for continued testing, though it will be years before it is ready for clinical trials.

Now that she’s completed her doctorate, Trantham is focusing her efforts on making a difference in her field from outside the lab. She recently began a role as a scientific engagement fellow for PTC Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company that specializes in creating therapies for rare diseases.

“I’ve enjoyed being able to meet people to talk about things like patient preferences and gene therapy from a different perspective,” she said. “I’m interested in propelling research forward using my experiences.”