I have been interested in social justice since I was a young child. My interest in science merged well with social justice by focusing on medicine and public health (MPH in Health Management and Policy). I initially chose the field of Internal Medicine-Pediatrics based on my interests in adolescent health and self-efficacy. My clinical and research opportunities led me first to the field of asthma (adolescents) and then expanded to COPD, due to similarities in the need for chronic disease self-management across the life-span. My first realization that a focus on asthma was of interest to me was as a resident when I realized that while providing action plans and medication education was standard of care for children with asthma, the same was not true for adults. I then began to study how to take lessons learned from the pediatric field to apply to adults asthma by incorporating adult learning theory. My work with asthma led naturally to also focus on COPD. Then, with the national policies around COPD readmissions (financial penalties for excessive readmissions), my background in policy came in useful, and I expanded my scope to focus on system-solutions to improve the quality and value of care for patients with lung disease across the life-span.