Post Baccalaureate Student Making A Global Impact

MiCaRT post baccalaureate Simone Mayes’ abstract was accepted to the “2015 New Horizons in Cancer Research Conference: Bringing Cancer Discoveries to Patients” conference in Shanghai, China. This past summer was Mayes’ first time applying to present at research conferences. She was initially inspired by MiCaRT director, Dr. Folakemi Odedina. With her newly found thirst for research, Simone took initiative and decided to expand her horizons by applying to the AACR Conference in China’s capital. Much to the surprise of Simone and her colleagues, the abstract detailing her research with Dr. Walter O’Dell was accepted! Unfortunately, the New Horizons Conference takes place around the same time as the 8th Health Disparities Conference. Simone will be presenting her research in Atlanta, GA instead of Shanghai, China. This November will be a first for Simone as she has never attended a research conference before. Though she was not able to make a global impact this November in China, she looks forward to any future opportunities that may place her in a position to influence the research field globally.  Markedly, traveling internationally is not new to Simone as proven by her trip to Guyana with HERO (Health Education and Training Relief) during her undergraduate career. Through this program she was able to aid in the distribution of health care to disadvantaged populations.

Simone poster
“I had not imagined that I would be doing research actually. In my mind, research was reserved for wet lab work: culturing cells, ligations, isolating DNA and things of that sort. What interested me most was being able to interact with people and patients. I strived to apply the things that I had learned medically towards application face to face. ReTOOL showed me that that is possible in research. I was able to conduct face to face preventative research with individuals whom I identify with and I am proud to be able to present this research at future conferences. I didn’t think that this would lead to an invitation to present my findings internationally in Shanghai, China this year.”