What I'm working on.

One of the harder decisions early on was how to prioritize what to measure. I proposed capturing both terminal metastatic burden and longitudinal tumor kinetics via repeated IVIS imaging, and that decision is now paying off. We can see when the divergence begins, not just where it ends up.

Next steps involve detailed histopathological analysis and additional molecular validation. I'm also starting to write up the methods section for what will hopefully become a manuscript later this year.

One of the biggest barriers to medicine is something nobody talks about openly: if you don't already know a doctor, it is genuinely hard to get shadowing hours. Doctors live and work in a world that's largely separate from everyday life, and access to that world tends to follow existing connections. SOMA will actively work to pass those connections on, linking students to physicians who are willing to host shadowing, so that where you grew up or who your family knows stops determining whether you can meet the requirements to apply.

We'll also bring in guests from real research labs, including wet labs and clinical settings, to show undergraduates with no research experience what the average day actually looks like. Not the highlight reel, the real thing. Because I remember not knowing what I was signing up for, and I think more students would pursue research if they could see it first.

If I ever become a physician myself, one of my goals is to make myself more accessible to students who are earlier in this path. Teaching at a college would be one way to do that. SOMA is already another.