Student Profiles

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) continues to present a significant challenge to successful development of therapies for central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Mechanical modulation of the BBB using focused ultrasound (FUS) and microbubbles (MB) has shown considerable promise in increasing drug delivery into the brain. However, there are still several concerns regarding safety of such alternative drug delivery methods and requires better model systems to study adverse bioeffects. Olive’s doctoral project focused on understanding brain endothelial cell behavior in vitro when stimulated ultrasonically with microbubbles. She created 2- and 3-dimensional, flow based BBB models to utilize in ultrasound studies. Most recently, she started to develop novel immune-neurovascular models to better understand microglial-vascular crosstalk in homeostatic and pathological states.

Since the completion of her doctoral studies, Olive has gone on to continue supporting her NIH laboratory’s ongoing neurovascular projects as well as working with the OP8 IRTA Scheduling Team to assist the clinic staff on scheduling study participants. In addition, prior to returning to medical school, she is finishing a Master’s degree in Law (ML) at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she is learning about the nuance and complexity of statutory, case, and regulatory law in shaping the American healthcare system. She hopes to incorporate her experiences in research, medicine and law to push for policy changes and system reforms in the healthcare industry as she further advances in her professional, research and academic career(s).