Sam Olyha, PhD

Sam Olyha is an MD/PhD candidate at the Yale School of Medicine. She received her B.S. in Biological Sciences summa cum laude from Cornell University in 2014. Sam then completed a Master of Science by Research in Oncology in the lab of Dr. Anderson Ryan, PhD at the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar. Her master’s thesis investigated mechanisms of resistance to cancer therapies targeting the DNA damage response. She then enrolled in Yale’s MD/PhD program in 2016 and completed her doctoral work in Immunobiology under the mentorship of Dr. Carrie Lucas, PhD in 2024. Sam’s PhD work focused on a novel autoinflammatory disease called Deficiency in ELF4, X-linked (DEX) caused by loss-of-function mutations in the ELF4 transcription factor gene, and the role of ELF4 in regulating T cell-mediated inflammation. She utilized both patient samples and mouse models to provide insight into the diverse roles of ELF4 in the immune system, and more specifically its regulation of both transcription and translation processes within CD4⁺ T cells. She is interested in pursuing a career as a physician-scientist focusing on the molecular diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment of late-onset, severe, and treatment-refractory inflammatory conditions that defy classification and lack a clear germline genetic etiology.