A pipeline for emerging clinical researchers

Marilyn Skony Stamm, honorary director of the LaGuardia Community College Foundation Board and member of the HICCC Cancer Advisory Council, shares her excitement about the program’s impact. “Having worked with these students for over 15 years, I can vouch that they are extremely bright, determined, ambitious and resilient,” she says. “What they often lack are the opportunities to participate in paid internship programs that lead to good job opportunities. That’s what we’re trying to correct.”

Billie Gastic Rosado, PhD, provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at LAGCC echoes her excitement about this new partnership. “I’m grateful to the HICCC for recognizing our students’ talents and giving them such a special opportunity to continue to learn and grow as part of a world-class research institution,” she says. This past summer, two LAGCC students, Suborna Singha and Jonathan Machado, were selected to delve behind the scenes at the HICCC to learn about cancer research. As part of the 10-week immersive internship in HICCC’s clinical trials office, they explored different career paths as research study assistants, shadowed faculty and staff in different labs, and experienced cancer research up close.

A former professional chef who worked in several kitchens throughout Brooklyn, Jonathan Machado traded in his chef coat for a lab coat after the COVID-19 pandemic. Jonathan applied to the program driven by his desire to explore the origins of cancer cells and their connection to nutrition. “I feel like nutrition and wellness play a big part in many health issues, and I think this experience will help me understand the science side and combine my past experience working with nutrition.”

Jonathan reflects on how the program gave him a better understanding of different research fields, shaping his own academic path at LAGCC. “I came into this as a biology major and I now plan on switching to biochemistry after seeing how much chemistry is present in lab work. The shadowing and hands-on learning really opened my mind,” he says.

A biology student who moved to the US four years ago from Bangladesh, Singha was always interested in research and medicine but had not decided on a specialty. It was her professor’s presentation on cancer research that led her to consider applying to the program.

One of her favorite moments was shadowing a lab technician who showed them how to run a cell culture, a process that involves growing plant or animal cells in the lab to observe their behavior. “As a first-year student, I’ve only taken general biology classes,” she says, “I really enjoyed getting to learn about how cell biology works in real-time before I even take the course next year.”

Singha shares how the program expanded her outlook on her academic pursuits. “After spending time with researchers in the labs, I learned that MD-PhD programs are an option,” she says. “I was set on pursuing dermatology but after coming to the HICCC, I’m going after oncology.”