Student Profiles

I was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico before moving to the US as a freshman in high school. It was my love for the sciences that allowed me to overcome inherent cultural barriers and connect with others. I graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2017 with a B.S. in Biological Engineering. As an undergraduate, I joined Dr. Robert Langer’s lab and worked on the development of novel biodegradable scaffolds for tissue engineering. In addition, I designed microfluidic devices for both nanoparticle synthesis and tissue culture through two internships. My interest in medicine and clinical research was solidified after spending a summer investigating influenza in immunocompromised patients in the lab of Dr. Richard Webby at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

After graduating from MIT, I joined Dr. Sarah Tasian’s group at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) where I collaborated in multi-institutional precision medicine studies and investigated the use of novel targeted therapies. My work at CHOP opened my eyes to a career as a physician-scientist in hematology/oncology. Thereafter, I began my medical training at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Supported by the American Society of Hematology, I worked with Dr. Christopher Dvorak at the University of California, San Francisco investigating curative options in hematology. I then joined the NIH-Medical Research Scholars Program to expand my skills as a scientist and understand the mechanisms behind different targeted therapies. As part of Dr. Rosandra Kaplan’s lab, I have been characterizing the role of myeloid cells in solid tumor progression and metastasis.

Under the supervision of Dr. Rosandra Kaplan at the NCI and Prof. Francesca Buffa at Oxford, I will be continuing this work as an NIH-OxCam Scholar. My goal is to further our understanding of tumor immunology to identify new therapeutic targets in pediatric cancers.