For Alexa DeAngelis, who was recently awarded a Fulbright scholarship, combining a desire to help people with a passion for biochemistry means designing her own position in the budding specialty of precision medicine.
Just a few weeks into her freshman year as a pre-med student at Georgetown, Alexa DeAngelis went through what she calls a 鈥渜uarter-life crisis.鈥� She questioned whether becoming a doctor, a job that鈥檚 almost universally hailed as a good career choice, was the right way for her to pursue her passion for science. 鈥淚t was more something that I felt pressured into,鈥� she says.DeAngelis鈥檚 crisis ended when, during her years in college, she realized that she didn鈥檛 have to follow a predetermined path鈥攕he could build one for herself in the budding field of precision medicine. This new specialty aims to tailor therapies to individual patients by profiling their genetic or other biochemical traits. For DeAngelis, it鈥檚 a seamless way to combine her desire to help people with her strong interest in biochemistry research, which she鈥檚 currently immersed in as a research technician at 黑料吃瓜资源.
鈥淚 think it will be unique for me to come in, maybe with a dual degree, and to kind of design my own position鈥攚hich is scary, also, but it鈥檚 kind of exciting because I can really figure out how I want to use what I鈥檓 interested in in a career,鈥� says DeAngelis, who graduated from Georgetown in 2016.
The lack of role models is well-known barrier for young women in science, and setting out to forge a completely new path could conceivably magnify that problem. 鈥淚 need people to be my mentors in a field that doesn鈥檛 necessarily exist yet,鈥� DeAngelis explains. Fortunately, this is an obstacle she has been able to overcome so far. She was recently awarded a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to conduct cancer research at Sapienza University of Rome in Italy, and plans to earn a clinical degree at the UC San Francisco鈥檚 School of Pharmacy when she returns.
Bridging clinical and research interests is a goal that DeAngelis shares with Research Assistant Professor Johannes Yeh, who heads the lab she works in at CSHL. Yeh has a dental degree, and knows how difficult it can be to break free of a strictly clinical path. 鈥淛ohannes is a great resource for me,鈥� says DeAngelis, adding, 鈥渉e kind of warned me that he felt very pressured to choose one way or the other鈥攕o that鈥檚 a hurdle that I鈥檓 foreseeing for the future.鈥�
Considering that DeAngelis has been set on science since high school, it seems unlikely that she鈥檒l ever want to abandon research. She often thinks back to her days as a high school intern at CSHL鈥檚 DNA Learning Center, where she began to think about science as a community that she enjoyed. 鈥淚 got to meet a lot of other students who were interested in science, which I think also made a big difference, and I still keep in touch with some of them today,鈥� she says.
DeAngelis is quick to admit that it hasn鈥檛 been easy to design a completely new position in science for herself, but says she feels more certain than ever that she鈥檚 on the right path. With confidence and a touch of defiance, she says, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like to settle for anything.鈥�