Student Profiles

Emily’s interest in science started in high school through a research experience at the Illinois Institute of Technology where she studied blood flow dynamics in patients with renal disease. Her project was awarded a semifinalist prize in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology. Motivated by her high school work, she pursued several international science programs, including summer research at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and the Dr. Bessie F. Lawrence Summer Science Institute at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Together, these experiences sparked a lasting interest in using research to understand complex biomedical questions.

Emily graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.S. in Biological Sciences, specializing in immunology. As an undergrad, she worked in Cathy Nagler’s translational immunology lab studying the relationship between gut bacteria and food allergies and completed an honors thesis investigating the ability of high fiber diets to expand populations of barrier-strengthening gut bacteria that can prevent the development of food allergies. Her thesis work uncovered a specific fiber structure that was preferentially utilized by the microbiota to improve gut health, which has since been further developed for therapeutic use by a company started through the lab. Emily also took advanced graduate immunology and microbiology coursework. She became fascinated with the immune system and its immense power to maintain human health but also create havoc in disease.

After college, Emily did full-time research at the Rockefeller University in New York City. She worked in Jan Breslow’s metabolism and biochemistry lab studying immune chemotaxis-inducing peptides generated by activation of enzymes in the contact system, an enzyme cascade associated with blood coagulation and inflammation. She elucidated the signaling mechanism of the peptide and therapeutically targeted the pathway in various murine models of immune-mediated diseases. She presented her work at multiple national meetings and was directly involved in developing a clinically relevant, novel small molecular inhibitor for the enzyme of interest. 

Inspired by the powerful intersection of medicine and science, Emily applied to medical school, and she completed her preclinical years at Rush Medical College in Chicago. During this time, she was a student ambassador and member of the student curriculum committee. Upon joining the NIH Ox-Cam program, she will build on her previous research background and interest in immunology and study how immune crosstalk between the gut and brain is regulated by immunometabolic pathways. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career as a physician-scientist combining clinical work, translational immunology-focused research, and innovative therapeutic development.  Outside of the lab, she enjoys running, swimming, baking, and trying new restaurants.