Hometown: Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Major: Biophysics // Wharton Concentration: Finance
What are your 3 favorite aspects of the LSM program?
I love being surrounded by students who have similar interests and who also hope to pursue a rigorous academic path. The upperclassmen have always been resourceful mentors as well as friends and my peers have become some of my closest friends.
I think LSM does a great job of connecting students with industry leaders through speaker series, career conversations, and coffee chats.
Both the pro-seminar and the capstone seminar does an amazing job of introducing LSM students to healthcare in the States and prepares us well for entering this industry at any capacity.
What makes the LSM community unique?
I think the LSM community is unique in that it is very cohesive and supportive. I think lineages, program-wide events, and casual interactions in the lounge allow for a lot of interaction between students of the program.
Have you completed any internships?
Summer after freshman year, I received the Davis Internship Award to continue my science research on campus over the summer. I worked at the Wilusz lab in the medical school, investigating the regulatory mechanisms of drug-resistant non-canonical translation.
I think summer research was a huge learning opportunity for me, as I had more time that I could devote to research. I was able to add more procedures to my skillset (such as cell culture and Western blots), which has allowed me to be mostly independent in my day-to-day work during the school semester.
Have you done other research? If so, what did it entail?
In high school, I participated in the Research for Biological Sciences program at the University of Chicago, where I studied the effect of environmental factors on the catalytic activity of ribozyme RNase P. I also spent a summer doing research in an electrochemistry lab at Seoul National University in Korea.
What is the favorite experience you’ve had at Penn so far?
LSAB organizes an annual LSM banquet at the end of the academic year. I loved socializing with students of all years over dinner at the banquet last year, and I am very much looking forward to the banquet this year.
What extracurricular activities do you do at Penn?
I am a member of the LSM Student Advisory Board, and I love organizing social and professional events for the program. I also volunteer with Service Link, which is a organization that helps patients in the Penn medical system with non-medical determinants of health. Finally, I am currently receiving EMT training and hope to join Penn MERT in the fall.
Currently, what do you plan to do after college?
Ultimately, I hope to be involved in translational and clinical research at some capacity. I would ideally want to work for a couple of years after graduation before going to medical school or graduate school, but my plans are always changing as I am exposed to new opportunities.