Varun Ponnusamy

Varun is an MD-PhD student from Macomb, Michigan. He started his undergraduate journey at Oakland University in 2019 before transferring to the University of Michigan in 2021. There, he graduated with a B.S. in Biology, Health, and Society and a minor in Linguistics in 2024. As an undergraduate, he worked in Dr. Yatrik Shah's laboratory, investigating how colorectal cancer cells exploit metabolic and signaling pathways to drive tumor progression and therapeutic resistance.

After graduation, he worked in both Dr. Peggy Hsu's and Jason Spence's laboratories studying the developing human airway and the earliest molecular events that drive ALK+ lung cancer.

Outside of science, Varun likes to watch movies, play board games, participate in various intramural sports, generally goof off with his friends.