Somewhere in the midst of her two summer stints at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, immersed in a program that fosters scientific discovery, Diana Plaza also discovered a few things about the life of a scientist.
“My mindset changed,” said Plaza, a Fordham junior aiming for a career in biomedical research. Thanks to the summer program, she knows not only how to create a hypothesis and test it but also “how to work with others so that we can create a better understanding of the field that we’re in.”
For her, that field is cancer research, one of a few areas Fordham students have been studying for the past two summers at Albert Einstein, a short hop from Fordham’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. The students take part in a summer research program, initiated and funded by a Fordham trustee, that pairs them with medical researchers for eight weeks of collaborative learning and enrichment.
Learning to Think Like a Scientist
The program is an expansion of Albert Einstein’s BEYOND ALBERT immersion program for high school and college students, which combines hands-on and classroom learning. In addition to conducting mentored research, Fordham students attend workshops on communicating the results, handling data, and other skills. “It really prepares somebody to think like a scientist,” Plaza said. Workshops on professional development and science careers are part of the mix as well. Students present their research findings at a symposium capping off the summer program.
Many more Fordham students will gain this benefit in the years ahead, thanks to Fordham donors.
Support from a Doctor Alumnus
Fordham launched the research program at Albert Einstein in the summers of 2024 and 2025, providing students with stipends and covering other expenses, thanks to a gift from Dr. Ronald A. DePinho, ’77, a distinguished cancer researcher at the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, and from his wife, Lynda Chin. Plaza and six other Fordham students participated in the first two summers.
New gifts from DePinho and an anonymous donor will dramatically expand funding for the program, extending it for at least another five summers, said Robert Beer, PhD, associate dean for undergraduate STEM education at Fordham. The gift will also allow Fordham to consider other enhancements, such as extra research training for students during the academic year, he said.
An Apprenticeship for Medical Innovators
DePinho said he funded the research program because his education and career taught him the value of access to world-class laboratories in launching the careers of young scientists. The program at Einstein provides a kind of apprenticeship, an “educational superstructure” comprising lab work but also lectures and other learning opportunities, said DePinho, who attended medical school at Albert Einstein.
“In a very, very high-level, sophisticated environment, it opens their eyes to what is out there, and it really inspires a lot of these students to pursue these areas of opportunity,” he said.
Looking Beyond ‘Face Value’
Plaza grew up in the Bronx and originally grew interested in studying cancer when it afflicted a member of her family (who is now in remission). She took part in the BEYOND ALBERT program as a high school student and attended Fordham as a student in its Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program.
During her two summers in the summer research program as a Fordham student, she and her colleagues focused on lung cancer cells versus healthy cells and how they each respond to air pollution.
Their research illuminated how healthy lung cells and cancerous lung cells respond differently to air pollution, she said. As a Clare Boothe Luce scholar, she has also been able to continue her studies of lung cancer at Albert Einstein during the school year
She grew in confidence during the summer research program, improving her presentation skills and learning scientific habits like looking beyond the “face value” of things. She credits her mentor at Albert Einstein, Gracia Bualuti, then a graduate student at Lehman College.
“She took her time to break things down and really understand the reasoning behind why were doing something,” Plaza said. “And I feel like that’s something that I carry with me into my schoolwork.”
The program has left her excited for a biomedical research career full of further discoveries. “It really opened my eyes to the fact that research is a field that is filled with so much curiosity and learning,” she said.
An information session on the summer research program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine will take place Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Rose Hill campus.
