Meet the Students in the MSTP Summer Undergraduate Research Program
This summer the Vanderbilt MSTP is hosting 6 undergraduate students as part of our MSTP Summer Undergraduate Research Program. This summer program is designed to expose students from diverse backgrounds to the career of a physician-scientist and help prepare them to be competitive future applicants for MD/PhD programs. These students are on campus for 9 weeks completing a research project and gaining clinical shadowing experience. In addition, they have many opportunities to connect with and learn from current MSTP students, the MSTP Leadership Team, and Vanderbilt physician-scientists. Get to know a bit more about these 6 students below and say "hi" when you see them around campus!
(from left to right in the photo: Aliana Lawrence, Nora Gilliam, Brian Tirado, Isaiah Swann, Alexander Weingart, Jack Robbins)
Aliana Lawrence
Undergraduate Institution: Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia
Year: Rising Senior
Major: Biology, Public Health Minor
Hometown: Riverdale, Georgia (I love everything Georgia!)
What are you working on this summer? This summer I am defining the associations between lifestyle factors and colorectal cancer risk in a cohort of low socioeconomic position individuals and African Americans with Dr. Shaneda Warren Andersen in Epidemiology.
Fun fact: I have danced competitively since I was 4 years old.
Nora Gilliam
Undergraduate Institution: Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis
Year: Rising second-year undergraduate student
Majors: Chemistry and Epidemiology
Hometown: Chicago, IL
What are you working on this summer? This summer, I will help determine whether the environmental factor of inflammation causes the Helicobacter pylori genome to adapt in a specific way by genomic sequence analysis in Dr. Tim Cover's lab.
Fun fact: I spent a week in the Honduran mountains about a month ago and got only one mosquito bite the whole time there; here in Nashville, I receive almost one mosquito bite per day! :)
Brian Tirado
Undergraduate Institution: Mercer University
Year: Rising Senior
Major: Biology
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia
What are you working on this summer? I am studying the effect of the human LNK Polymorphism on Hypertension in Dr. Meena Madhur's lab.
Fun Fact: I have performed in Carnegie Hall
Isaiah Swann
Undergraduate Institution/Major: Collegium V Honors Program at The University of Texas at Dallas, Neuroscience
Year: Rising Junior
Hometown: Marietta, GA
What are you working on this summer? I am working to elucidate the molecular underpinnings of synaptic choice in motor neurons of C. elegans within the lab of Dr. David Miller.
Fun Fact: I play baseball for the UT-Dallas Comets and was a part of the team that won the first conference championship in program history (whoosh!).
Alexander Weingart
Undergraduate Institution: University of Vermont
Year: Rising Senior
Major: Neuroscience and Health & Society
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
What are you working on this summer? This summer I am working in the lab of Dr. Pierre Massion. My project examines human bronchial epithelial tissue at a single cell level using mass cytometry to comprehensively characterize the sub-populations of airway cells that confer the greatest risk for lung cancer by establishing an antibody panel to target human bronchial epithelial cell subtypes and compare healthy bronchial and alveolar lung tissue of individuals at low and high risk, eventually flow sorting subpopulations and characterizing their genomic alterations.
Fun Fact: I'm a three time intramural volleyball champion, avid skier, and a Zumba dancer extraordinaire.
Jack Robbins
Undergraduate Institution: Florida State University
Year: Rising Senior
Major: Biomedical Engineering
Hometown: Miami, FL
What are you working on this summer? I am studying the non-genetic mechanisms of drug resistance in melanoma in the lab of Dr. Vito Quaranta.
Fun Fact: I've made a hole-in-one on number 7 of the Ryder course in the PGA Village Golf Resort.