I am a current graduate student in the Narasimhan Lab at the University of Texas at Austin looking to expand my knowledge of biology, genetics, and computer science in order to improve cancer research. I joined this lab in March of 2021 after hearing of a project that Vagheesh wanted to undertake. To directly pull from Vagheesh’s website, “we are building machine learning methods, particularly deep learning approaches to automatically extract features and phenotypes from a variety of biomedical imaging datasets and then connecting these with genomic information to understand the genetic basis of these traits.” It sounded like a daunting task as a biochemistry graduate student with a limited background in computer science, but I was intrigued and felt like this was an area of up and coming interest that could have potentially powerful applications for medical and in particular, cancer research.

As a child, I wasn’t always sure what I would end up doing when I grew up, but two experiences with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, once at age 3 and again at the age of 12, led me to pursure a degree in biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin in order to do cancer research. A course in bioinformatics in undergrad also prompted me to delve into my interest in computer science, so I completed the Elements of Computing Certificate at UT as well.

After completing my degree, my dreams of doing cancer research were realized as I began a research assistant role at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. I worked under Dr. Kwong Kwok Wong in the Department of Gynecology Oncology and Reproductive Medicine. Our lab focused on Low Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer, a particularly deadly and rare form of ovarian cancer that affected primarily younger women. During my time at MD Anderson, I learned a lot more about the difficulty of treating cancer and the different avenues of cancer research that were available. Reinforced in my drive to pursue cancer research, I applied for various PhD programs in 2019 and accepted an offer at the University of Texas at Austin in Biochemistry starting in the fall of 2020.

Moving on from my professional background, I find it difficult to explain my interests and hobbies so I will let my Youtube Recommended Video Categories describe them for me.

  • “Breaking Bad”
  • “Michael Scott”
  • “Super Smash Bros Melee”
  • “Bodybuilding”
  • “Hunter X Hunter”
  • “NBA”

That honestly sounds about right despite never watching a full episode of The Office in my life. I have also recently attempted to up my photography and editing skills which I showcase here

This page is a work in progress