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Ana G. Cristancho
When Ana Cristancho was a girl, she dreamed of becoming "a healer and a hero." In one way, she already has. When she was only 11, Cristancho lost her father to brain cancer. A decade later, as a double major in biology and philosophy at the University of Miami, she organized the first Coral Gables, Florida, "Relay for Life," an event that raised $50,000 for the American Cancer Society.
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Ana G. Cristancho
University of Miami
Miami, FL
Current Institution: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Photo: David Graham
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During that project, Cristancho was so touched by her contact with cancer's youngest sufferers that she decided to study pediatric oncology. As a participant in HHMI's Exceptional Research Opportunities Program (EXROP) which offers summer research experiences for disadvantaged and minority undergraduates in the labs of HHMI investigators or HHMI professors, she worked in the lab of HHMI investigator Tyler Jacks, a cancer biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cristancho helped develop a mouse model for Ewing's sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that affects about 300 children per year. Her contribution to the project involved cloning two targeting vectors, the two genes that fuse to make the disease-causing protein.
"This was my first experience in cancer research, and it confirmed my interest," Cristancho said. "I started to have more confidence as a scientist. I also learned why it's important to pursue questions about unpopular subjects; answers to Ewing's sarcoma pathogenesis may lead not only to better therapies for these patients, but also to better understanding of more common conditions."
Cristancho, 23, wants to become a pediatric oncologist and cancer biologist. She is now completing the second year of a combined M.D-Ph.D. program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
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