It’s official — Last week, I graduated as Dr. Alyssa Bauder, PsyD!
While my graduate education was a pursuit seven years in the making, the journey towards becoming Dr. Bauder began almost two decades earlier. Unbeknownst to my first grade self, that Valentine’s Day allergic reaction was a catalyst towards a lifelong career in clinical psychology and public health advocacy.
One tiny bite of Butterfinger laid the foundation for would eventually be known as the Lived Experiences of Food-Allergic Young Adults in Differentiating Anxiety From Anaphylaxis in the Aftermath of a Severe Allergic Reaction (Bauder, 2025).
Hearing my name announced as I walked across the stage is a moment I will never forget, but knowing the title of my dissertation was read aloud across the auditorium somehow felt even more special.
I thought about my younger self, my research participants, and all of the food allergy community in that moment — Knowing what it meant to have our stories not only documented, but truly heard.
To The Hivey League — I hope I have made you proud.
All Things Allergies 