Left to right: Sam Shin, Sophia DiPaola, Zoey Lorusso, Emma Egan; photo by Penh Alicandro ’22
Five Eckerd College students will be packing their bags and setting off to Boston for an internship at the Center for Genomic Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School this summer.
Eckerd Board of Trustees Vice Chair Sue Slaugenhaupt ’85, Ph.D., is the scientific director of the Mass General Research Institute at MGH and founded this internship program that enables Eckerd students to conduct medical research. Eighty-seven Eckerd students have participated in the program since its establishment in 2010, and now Zoey Lorusso, Emma Egan, Jordan Sergey, Sam Shin and Sophia DiPaola are the next to embark on this medical experiential learning journey.
Zoey Lorusso, a sophomore biochemistry student from Sisters, Oregon, and president of Eckerd’s Women in STEM club, had a jaw-drop reaction when she learned she’d been accepted into the program.
After Assistant Professor of Chemistry Lisa Bonner, Ph.D., shared the “lovely email” notifying Zoey about her internship, Zoey cried happy tears and contacted her mom to share the news.
Sophomore Sophia DiPaola
Zoey is most excited about being in the lab this summer, saying “it’s like an indescribable feeling, but I don’t know—it just feels like where I’m supposed to be.”
She plans to enter the dental field and has pondered doing both dental research and clinical practice, so she can work in a lab and with people. While Zoey hadn’t always planned to enter dentistry, she loves going to the dentist. “It’s comparable to getting my nails done,” she says.
Emma Egan, a junior biology and pre-med student from Mount Washington, Kentucky, says she is “super stoked” about the upcoming internship and feels “taken aback by the opportunity.”
This is Emma’s first year at Eckerd, as a women’s basketball transfer student, and she learned about this opportunity from Associate Professor of Biology Denise Boyce Flaherty, Ph.D., when Emma first visited Eckerd. Over Winter Term, Bonner sent an email encouraging students to apply for it, Emma recalls, and she even had the chance to speak with a student who participated in the internship last year.
Emma has an interest in human health and says she thinks “genomic medicine and lifestyle and a lot of different implementations holistically can really move the medicine forward.” She hopes to one day head her own practice or work in a practice that shares these goals and morals.
“This is kind of outside my comfort zone, like, being in a lab setting,” Emma says. But she is excited to be in a lab and learn “how that research can contribute to actually making advancements in the field.”
Both Sam, a biology student from North Wales, Pennsylvania, and Sophia, a biology student from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, were surprised to earn this internship as sophomores, instead of upperclass students.
“I got the email and started screaming,” Sophia says, emphasizing her excitement. Sam was discussing alternative internship options with his dad, expecting to not be accepted to this program.
Sophia is eager to learn about both biomedical field research and clinical applications, for she has been torn on which field to enter.
“I think this will give me a lot of clarity. I just like people, though,” so “working with patients every single day would be a little bit more enjoyable for me. But I’m excited to see both sides of it and learn from professionals. That will be really exciting.”
She is interested in the orthopedic, sports medicine and dermatology routes. She also volunteers at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and asks nurses and doctors how they got where they are today.
Sam, whose dad is a sports medicine doctor, is in a similar position—leaning toward clinical medicine and the orthopedic field—and ready to learn about the genomic aspect of science. Both Sophia and Sam seem to have an intersection of passions, from athletics to medicine.
“We both play rugby, a pretty physically demanding sport, and there’s lots of injuries,” Sam says, explaining their intrigue in sports medicine and treating such injuries.
Several interns emphasized the significance of Eckerd opportunities like these internships, which allow students to learn experientially and make lifelong professional connections.
Zoey correlates going to school with visiting the eye doctor. They place lenses in front of your eyes, layering and layering until your vision is nearly perfect.
“I feel like that’s what Eckerd does,” she says. They place lens upon lens across disciplines and provide opportunities to give you a more well-rounded perspective. “And then eventually you’re able to see.”
