2021 Fellows
Lauren Barnes
Mentors: Elizabeth Kantor
Lauren Barnes is a rising senior at Ohio Wesleyan University majoring in Mathematics with a Statistics Concentration and Chemistry. Lauren enjoys organizing events with their school’s Campus Programming Board, playing clarinet in their school’s pep band, and cross-stitching.
Project: Association Between Fish Oil Supplements and Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
Guy Beresteanu
Mentor: Andriy Derkach
Guy Beresteanu is a rising junior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in statistics. He is interested in predicting patient outcomes in both cancer treatment and surgical procedures. In his free time, Guy enjoys traveling, skiing, and hiking.
Project: Predictors of AML patient response to 7+3 induction chemotherapy
Meredith Brown
Mentor: Meredith Brown
Meredith Brown is a rising senior at Duke University majoring in Computer Science and Statistics with a Math minor. She’s from Raleigh, North Carolina, where she grew up an avid UNC basketball fan. Meredith’s research interests focus on the intersection of public health and data science, specifically turning analytical insights into policy changes. This summer, she is working with Dr. Mitchell exploring relationships between the pharmaceutical industry and cancer centers. In her free time, Meredith enjoys playing soccer, doing the New York Times crossword, and cheering for Duke basketball.
Project: Financial relationships between the drug industry and US cancer centers
Michelle Flesaker
Mentor: Xiang Shu
Michelle Flesaker is a rising senior at Smith College studying Statistical & Data Sciences. She is from New York City. In her spare time, she enjoys running, hiking, and reading. She plans on pursuing a career in epidemiology with an emphasis on mental health and substance use disorders.
Project: Associations Between Insulin Resistance-related Traits and Breast Cancer Risk by Molecular Subtype: a Mendelian Randomization Study
Sophie Lelei
Mentor: Mithat Gonen and Karissa Whiting
Sophie Lelei is a rising junior at Penn State majoring in statistical modeling data science and minoring in global health. Sophie is a part of the Millennium Scholars Program and intends to pursue a Ph.D. in a related field. In her free time, Sophie loves to watch movies, cook, and travel.
Project: Predicting liver metastases in Colorectal Cancer Patients Using Radiomics Data
Emily Leventhal
Mentors: Andrew McPherson and Marc Williams
Emily is a rising third year at the University of Virginia from Long Island, NY. She is majoring in cognitive science with a concentration in computer science and a minor in bioethics. After undergrad, she plans to attend medical school and continue to pursue research at the intersection of computer science and health.
Project: Benchmarking Allele-Specific Copy Number Methods on Single Cell Whole Genome Sequencing Data
Ginnie Ma
Mentor: Francisco Sanchez Vega
Ginnie Ma is a rising junior studying mathematics and statistics at Harvard College and is from Columbus, Ohio. Her academic and research interests lie in the development and application of statistics to health and biological data. Ginnie hopes to pursue graduate studies in statistics. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, hiking, and writing for her school newspaper.
Project: Characterization of treatment-associated genomic changes in rectal cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant therapy
Marina Mancoridis
Mentor: Wesley Tansey
Marina Mancoridis is a rising sophomore studying computer science at Princeton University. Her academic interests include deep learning and data analytics, which is well suited for her project with Dr. Tansey on using deep learning to segment cells! In her free time, she enjoys hiking, rock climbing, singing, and going on adventures.
Project: Developing a Tool for Counting Cells in Tissue Images
Vassiliki Mancoridis
Mentor: JJ Gao and Doori Rose
Vassiliki Mancoridis is a rising sophomore at Princeton University who is majoring in Computer Science with a certificate in Statistics & Machine Learning. Her academic interests include computational biology, machine learning, and entrepreneurship. When she’s not working with the MSK MIND team on their pathology workflow, she can be found doing some of her favorite activities: playing guitar, going on long runs, and hiking.
Project: End to End Deep Learning Pathology Analysis Using MIND Pathology Workflows
2020 Fellows
Ethan Ashby
Mentors: Ronglai Shen and Saptarshi Chakraborty
Ethan Ashby is a rising senior mathematics major and biology minor at Pomona College from Orinda, California. His academic interests include the statistical analysis of molecular and ecological data, literature, and creative writing. Ethan is an athlete on Pomona’s Cross Country and Track teams and was a scoring member of the first men’s National Championship team in his school’s history. In his spare time, Ethan enjoys running, bicycling, listening to Playboi Carti, birdwatching, making DIY electronic music, writing short-stories, curating content for his team’s instagram page, and zooming with his friends.
Project: Using metafeature clustering and smoothed Good-Turing probability estimation to mine tissue-specific signals from rare variants in the cancer genome
Joseph Mogrovejo
Mentor: Sujata Patil
Joseph Mogrovejo is a rising senior majoring in statistics and psychology at Hunter College. He plans on pursuing a career in quantitative psychology to allow him to study psychometrics and the way mental disorders are measured. Joseph enjoys making acrylic paintings, sculpting, playing with his dogs, and traveling around New York City.
Project: Validating self-efficacy in a study of ethnically diverse breast cancer patients using factor analysis
Madelaine Rangel
Mentor: JJ Gao and Ino de Bruijn
Madelaine Rangel is a rising senior in the Biometry and Statistics major at Cornell University. Her hometown is in Jericho, New York but Madelaine recently moved to Elmhurst, Queens. She is working with Dr. JJ Gao and Ino de Bruijn in the Computational Oncology Department. Their project involves properly identifying splice events in cBioPortal genomic data. Madelaine hopes to pursue graduate studies in biostatistics with a focus on clinical trials. In her free time, she enjoys watching Netflix and drinking hot chocolate. After quarantine, Madelaine hopes to travel and take advantage of her scuba diving certification.
Project: Identifying Splice Events That Contribute to Tumor Initialization and Progression Using Recurrence
Breanna Richards
Mentor: Esther Drill
Breanna Richards is a rising senior majoring in Statistics at Amherst College and is from West Orange, New Jersey. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, dancing, and trying out new restaurants with her friends. She hopes to pursue graduate studies in biostatistics and epidemiology.
Project: Classification in Lymphatic Cancer
Soyi Sarkar
Mentor: Mithat Gonen
Soyi Sarkar is a rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis studying mathematics and biology. She is from Short Hills, NJ. Soyi is interested in medical journalism, and volunteering for underserved populations. In her free time, she loves to paint, do crossword puzzles and trying new restaurants.
Project: Predicting Recurrence of Liver Metastases and Overall Survival in Colorectal Cancer Patients
Kinnary Shah
Mentor: Li-Xuan Qin
Kinnary Shah is a rising senior at Rutgers University - New Brunswick, pursuing a double major in Biomathematics and Public Health. She is from central New Jersey. Kinnary serves as President of Kier’s Kidz at Rutgers, which is affiliated with a local non-profit that advocates for children battling pediatric cancers, and a member of the Rutgers Global Health Institute. In her free time, she enjoys baking, attending concerts, and reading. She plans to pursue graduate studies in biostatistics.
Project: Batch Effects in microRNA from the TCGA database
Evan Steinberg
Mentor: Varadan Sevilimedu-Veeravalli
Evan Steinberg is a rising senior at American University in Washington D.C. studying Statistics. Originally from Newtown, PA, in his spare time, Evan enjoys doing theatre, outdoor activities like hiking, and spending time with friends. After finishing his undergraduate work, Evan looks forward to pursuing graduate work in Biostatistics.
Project: Sensitivity and Specificity in a repeated measure setting
Amelia Tran
Mentor: Audrey Mauguen
Amelia Tran is a rising senior at Mount Holyoke College. She is interested in applications of statistics in the field of healthcare. She plans to pursue graduate studies in Data Science. Amelia is from Hanoi, Vietnam. In her spare time, she enjoys reading books, listening to music, and exploring different cultures.
Project: Joint model for longitudinal and survival data: A study of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis
Gaby Zuckerman
Mentor: Elizabeth Kantor
Gaby Zuckerman is a rising senior at UNC Chapel Hill studying biostatistics with a math minor and is from Daytona Beach, FL. She plans on pursuing a graduate degree in epidemiology in order to combat health disparities and make health more accessible for everyone. In her free time, she likes playing board games, watching TV, and being around animals.
Project: Understanding Differences in Prescription Drug Use Between Mexican Americans and Non-Hispanic White Americans: Results from the NHANES Study
2019 Fellows
Tony Chen
Mentor: Chaya Moskowitz
Tony Chen is a rising senior at Princeton University, studying Operations Research and Financial Engineering, and is from Germantown, TN. He hopes to pursue a career in biostatistics research, and enjoys dancing and playing the piano on the side.
Project: Characterizing Longitudinal Breast Imaging Features in CT Scans
Hannah Fuchs
Mentor: Elizabeth Kantor
Hannah is a public health and applied statistics double major at American University in Washington, DC. Last year, she studied abroad in Nairobi, Kenya, which piqued her interest in international health disparities affecting those with chronic diseases. In her free time, she enjoys painting, photography, and playing music on her college radio show.
Project: Understanding the association between B12 vitamin intake and B12 blood levels: The role of smoking and gender.
Hector Moran
Mentor: Yuelin Li
Hector Moran is a rising senior majoring in bioinformatics & Afro/Latino studies at Hunter College. He plans on pursuing a career in biostatistics with the hope of applying rigorous methodology and analysis to health disparities research, while also incorporating anti-racism into science. Hector enjoys r&b music, cooking, reading fiction, and watching Marvel movies.
Project: Sample Selection Model in a Smoking Cessation Missing Data Analysis
Amy Pitts
Mentor: Sujata Patil
Amy is a rising senior at Marist College double majoring in Applied Mathematics and Data Analytics while minoring in Computer Science. Along with her heavy course load, she is the treasurer of the Marist College Equestrian team, the President of the Association for Women in Mathematics chapter and Pi Mu Epsilon chapter at Marist, and the Vice-President of the Marist Math Club. She is extremely excited to explore her interests in math and data science at MSK while living in a big city.
Project: Missing Data in Cancer Studies
Mohammed Rahman
Mentor: Aaron Mitchell
Mohammed is a senior at Hunter College and is from Queens, NY. He is interested in applying machine learning methods for cancer research. His goal is to perform research that forwards clinical practices in oncology. He enjoys listening to music and watching sci-fi movies. After a few years working in a healthcare setting, he looks forward to applying for a PhD in Biostatistics.
Project: Increasing Financial Payments from Industry to Medical Oncologists in the United States, 2014-2017
Allison Reiner
Mentor: Kay See Tan
Allison attends college in upstate New York, near the Canadian border (St. Lawrence University). She spent the spring semester studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she lived with a Danish host family. She really enjoy traveling and exploring new places. Allison hopes to attend graduate school in biostatistics upon finishing her undergraduate degree.
Project: Relationship between Immune Markers and Overall Survival in NSCLC Patients
Yixuan (Sherry) Wu
Mentor: Jaya Satagopan
Yixuan (Sherry) Wu is a rising junior in Georgetown University, majoring in Psychology and Mathematics on the statistics track. She works as a research assistant in Georgetown’s Math and Stats department and plans to pursue graduate studies in Statistics. Sherry enjoys playing the piano in the university’s chamber music group, horseback riding, travelling, and watching sports.
Project: Modeling Survival Data
Crystal Zang
Mentor: Ed Reznik
Crystal studies Mathematics, Statistical & Data Science at Smith College. She is interested in solving biomedical problems using machine learning. She plans to pursue graduate studies in Biostatistics. She is from Shanghai, China. One of her career goals is to research women’s health and raise awareness of women’s health issues in China. She also enjoys dancing salsa.
Project: Prediction of Unmeasured Features in Metabolomics Data Across Cancer Types
Sunny Zhong
Mentor: Venkat Seshan
Sunny is a rising senior at Cornell University, majoring in Human Biology and minoring in Health Policy. With the plan to pursue graduate studies, she hopes to contribute to biostatistics research with applications to medicine and health disparity. She is from New York City, and enjoys cooking, trying out new food spots, and studying in cozy cafes.
Project: Determinants of Dose Modifications in the Treatment of Liver Metastases
Xiaobin Zhou
Mentor: Margaret Du
Xiaobin is a junior at Agnes Scott College, majoring in Public Health and Math, and minoring in music. She is interested in molecular epidemiology in cancer research. She wants to pursue a PhD in biostatistics or epidemiology, and become a global health researcher and practitioner. In her spare time, she likes travelling, tennis and playing the violin.
Project: Association between tooth loss and cancer mortality: NHANES 1999-2015
2018 Fellows
Nicholas Hartman
Nicholas is a rising senior at Cornell University, majoring in Biometry and Statistics. He is interested in biostatistics with applications to health and medicine. He hopes to pursue a PhD in biostatistics and contribute to research within the health sector. His hometown is Sea Cliff, NY, and he enjoys playing basketball.Mentor: Sara Olson
Project: Age at onset of pancreatic cancer in relation to risk factors
David Hong
David is a rising senior at Cornell University, majoring in Policy Analysis and Management. He was born in South Korea and raised in Hong Kong, and served as a translator in the US Air Force for two years. His interests include East Asian culture and history, solving riddles, going to escape rooms, and playing board games. He plans to pursue graduate studies in statistics.Mentor: Allison Snyderman
Project: Measures of hospitals’ quality: how do they relate?
Elly Kipkogei
Elly is a senior at Cornell University, majoring in Biometry and Statistics. Elly received the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award (Statistics) in May 2018. He plans to pursue graduate studies in applied statistics, and his goal is to become a professor of medical biostatistics. His role model in statistics is Sir David Cox, known for the Cox proportional hazard model. He enjoys cooking, especially Kenyan, Mexican, and Indian cuisine.Mentor: Audrey Mauguen
Project: Simulation study of variable selection methods for survival analysis
Chase Latour
Chase is a rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in Mathematics on the statistics track and Anthropology, with an emphasis on global health. She hopes to pursue graduate studies in biostatistics and epidemiology. She is from Carbondale, IL, where she likes to hike, swim, and play with her dog.Mentor: Margaret Du
Project Title: Association Between Age at Last Birth and Maternal Telomere Length
Christine Lin
Christine is a rising senior at Cornell University, majoring in Biometry and Statistics. On campus, she works as a research assistant in Cornell’s Laboratory of Rational Decision Making, and she skates on the synchronized skating team. She hails from central NJ.Mentor: Malcom Pike
Project Title: Mammographic background parenchymal enhancement and risk of breast cancer
Antara Mondal
Antara is senior at Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in Statistics. She is interested in applications of statistics to chronic and congenital illnesses. She hopes to pursue graduate studies in biostatistics. She is from Philadelphia, where she enjoys trying new foods and going to concerts.Mentor: Elizabeth Kantor
Project Title: Association Between Use of Fish Oil Supplements and Inflammation
Margaret Steiner
Margaret is a rising junior at George Washington University, majoring in Applied Mathematics. She works in a computational biology lab and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the university’s undergraduate research journal. She hopes to pursue graduate studies in biostatistics. She is originally from The Woodlands, Texas.Mentor: Venkat Seshan
Project Title: Estimating tumor fraction from shallow whole genome sequencing
Srinivas Sunil
Srinivas is a rising senior at Duke University, majoring in Statistics and in Mathematics. He works as a research assistant in the university’s statistics department. He likes to travel, try new and exotic foods, and spend time outdoors.Mentor: Zhigang Zhang, Debra Goldman
Project Title: Statistical Analysis of Cancer Data from Radiation Oncology
Sarah Szvetecz
Sarah is a rising senior at James Madison University, majoring in Statistics. She currently serves as president of the American Statistical Association Student Chapter at James Madison. She enjoys listening to music, spending time with friends, and going to concerts. Upon graduation, Sarah intends to attend graduate school to study biostatistics.Mentor: Li-Xuan Qin
Project Title: Exploring different link functions of hierarchical clustering and their sensitivity to handling effects in microarray data
Aijin Wang
Aijin is a rising senior at Carnegie Mellon University, majoring Statistics and Machine Learning. Music and photography are her biggest passions. She also likes crime shows, soccer, and hockey.Mentor: Ronglai Shen
Project Title: Applying statistical machine learning methods to cancer genomics