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2019 BioMed Amgen Scholars

June 17, 2019

The following twenty-one undergraduate students were selected to participate in a 9-week research-intensive summer training program. Students conduct hands-on research in Yale labs, participate in career development and networking events, and present their findings at a research symposium.

YALE BIOMED AMGEN SCHOLARS. The Amgen Scholars Program at Yale is a partnership between the Amgen Foundation and the Yale School of Medicine MD-PhD and Biological and Biomedical Sciences PhD programs. The goal of the program is to recruit students from under-represented groups to biomedical careers and help them succeed as scientists or physician-scientists.

Adam Abdulrahman
Clemson University
Research Mentor: Aaron Ring, MD, PhD

James Bonanno
Vassar College
Research Mentor: Jess Cardin, PhD

Angelina Cicerchia
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Research Mentor: Craig Roy, PhD

Shakira Crespo-Arocho
University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez
Research Mentor: Carrie Lucas, PhD

Jade Enright
McDaniel College
Research Mentor: Karla Neugebauer, PhD

Liz Enyenihi
Emory University
Research Mentor: Anton Bennett, PhD

A'dryanna Jenkins
Penn State University-Leigh Valley
Research Mentor: Charles Dela Cruz, MD, PhD

Kaeri Martinez
Brown University
Research Mentor: David Schatz, PhD

Tuzo Mwarumba
Vanderbilt University
Research Mentor: Junjie Guo, PhD

Andrea Nguyen
Pomona College
Research Mentor: Megan King, PhD

Andrew Palacios
Columbia University
Research Mentor: Nikhil Joshi, PhD

Molly Parrish
Mercer University
Research Mentor: Wendy Gilbert, PhD

Maxine Robinette
California State University, Long Beach
Research Mentor: Jane Taylor, PhD

Israel Robinson
Tufts University
Research Mentor: Michael Crair, PhD

Dayralee Torres
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
Research Mentor: Mark Lemmon, PhD

YALE BIOMED SURF. The BioMed SURF program is dedicated to providing rising sophomores from diverse backgrounds with the resources and experiences to pursue careers in biomedical research. This Yale School of Medicine sponsored program was designed to address the limited availability of research-intensive training programs for students in the beginning of their undergraduate education.

Shivangi Goswami
University of California-Los Angeles
Research Mentor: Marcelo Dietrich, MD, PhD

Joshua Lewis
Prairie View A&M University
Research Mentor: Arie Kaffman, MD, PhD

Kofi Osei-Opare
Pomona College
Research Mentor: Patrick Lusk, PhD

BP-ENDURE HUNTER/NYU. The BP-ENDURE program is a Yale partnership with Hunter College and NYU to expose trainees to a research-intensive curriculum in order to prepare undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds to succeed in PhD programs in the neurosciences. These students are supported in part from the NIH Blueprint ENDURE (Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Experiences) program.

Estephanie Balbuena
Hunter College, City University of New York
Research Mentor: Will Cafferty, PhD

Aziz Elbasheir
Hunter College, City University of New York
Research Mentor: Irina Esterlis, PhD

Rufina Kamaletdinova
Hunter College, City University of New York
Research Mentor: Marina Picciotto, PhD

Submitted by Reiko Fitzsimonds on June 17, 2019