About 3 years ago one of my key undergraduate professors, Alisson Shakarian, passed away. It was very shocking news since she was relatively young in age. My experiences with her were positive despite other students complaining about the difficulty of the class. Cell biology and biochemistry II were incredibly informative classes and she did a great job teaching the material.
Her research interests involved the neglected tropical disease leishmaniasis. The parasite leishmania invades human tissue and wreaks havoc, sometimes lethally. I’d like to apply what I’ve learned thus far as a chemist in a philanthropic way towards the discovery of new treatments to this disease. In this way, I’ll be coming full circle from the work my father did as a doctor in treating leishmaniasis in Syria.
I will outline my scientific approach in future posts. In summary, this project will be taking a positive memory and legacy and using my skills to honor it in a unique way for the world.
