As a high school student, Christina often visited an elderly woman who was like a second grandmother for her family. Alzheimer's disease was robbing her of her mental abilities, and Christina wanted to help her get better. When she transferred to Xavier's business program as a sophomore, she knew her interest in the business side of health care would prepare her to run organizations that help people like her surrogate grandmother, who died at age 95.

Connections made through Xavier's business professors helped her land three different internships with local health care organizations, which prepared her for admission to graduate school in health administration at the Medical University of South Carolina. She worked in human resources at Shriner's Hospital and Cincinnati Children's Hospital, her favorite, but she also has a fondness for a six-month internship at the Alois Alzheimer Center in Cincinnati—the first nursing home in the U.S. dedicated to Alzheimer's patients.