Biomedical Research and Mentoring Program (RaMP)

I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of 8. Ever since, I knew that my future involved impacting the healthcare field for the better. Upon coming to UC, I actively began searching for a way to put my foot in the door to begin this goal of mine. That is when I discovered the Biomedical Research and Mentoring Program (RaMP) offered through the honors program. After multiple applications and interviews, I accepted a position as a research assistant in Whitlock Lab in the Orthopaedics division at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
​
Though the experience was entirely virtual due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was an extremely enriching experience that I am unbelievably grateful was available to me as a first-year student. I worked under the mentorship of Dr. Sumit Murab, contributing heavily to two completed drafts of research papers, one of which was published in Bioengineering, an international, scientific, peer-reviewed, open access journal. The process to write a peer-reviewed article is arduous yet rewarding. I also worked alongside another student to review various research articles and present them to the lab at our biweekly meetings. Both tasks taught me how to apply the knowledge I had learned from my curriculum into real-life scenarios and how to effectively communicate findings to others.
​
I had never explored the idea of working in tissue engineering before beginning this program. This experience has broadened my mindset of what I can do as a biomedical engineer and given me a glimpse of what professional research entails. I look forward to continuing work with this lab and I will keep finding ways to broaden my horizon because I now realize I can do much more than I ever thought.