Ph.D. program welcomes three new students
The Wright Center welcomed three new students into its doctoral program for Clinical and Translational Science yesterday.
Christiana Appiah completed the first year of a Ph.D. program at Marquette University in Wisconsin and transferred to VCU. She earned her Master’s degree researching cancer cell signaling but is open to new specializations.
Carmen Camarena spent the past year as a scholar in the VCU School of Medicine’s Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program. She worked under Rebecca Martin, Ph.D., where she researched the potential for synergy between Guadecitabine and Cyclophosphamide to promote anticancer immunity.
Allie Straus graduated from George Washington University in D.C. and spent a year working before returning to her hometown of Richmond for Wright’s Ph.D. program. Straus is interested in cancer research generally and hopes to find a specialization as she works through the program.
A fourth Ph.D. student currently based in India plans to join the program in spring.
The interdisciplinary program allows students to customize curricula based on their research interests and career goals, while gaining a comprehensive grounding in research sciences, ethics and community engagement. Students also learn how to write grants and apply for the funding that will support their future research careers. Faculty mentoring rounds out the experience, ensuring students have the networks and guidance they need.
The Wright Center’s Ph.D. program offers a specialized interdisciplinary concentration in cancer and molecular medicine and trains the next generation of cancer research leaders. The new students are the first to join since the Wright Center and VCU Massey Cancer Center expanded the program’s curriculum with the help of a grant from the National Cancer Institute.
Students’ tuition and stipend are supported by VCU Massey Cancer Center through generous philanthropic donations.
Appiah, Camarena and Straus attended a socially distant orientation on Thursday at the Wright Center with program directors, Devanand Sarkar, MBBS, Ph.D., associate director for training and education at Massey and a Wright Center mentor, and Joyce Lloyd, Ph.D., Wright Center mentor and vice chair for education and faculty affairs of the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics.
With the addition of these three students, there are 19 students now working their ways through the Wright Center doctoral program, some earning Ph.D.s and some earning M.D.-Ph.D.s. A few recent graduates have returned to the VCU School of Medicine to finish the M.D. portion of the dual degree program.
