WOONSOCKET — Inspired by her beloved grandmothers, both who passed away from cancer, Kristen Rodrigues, 16, will work this summer to find a cure in their memory.
After losing two loving women in her life to breast and gastrointestinal cancer, Rodrigues transformed her grief, committing herself to actively fighting through research the disease that took their lives.
The Mount Saint Charles Academy junior is the only student from Rhode Island to be accepted into the 2013 Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences, (CURE) summer program.
From June 24 until August 16, Rodrigues will commute an hour each day from her home in Cumberland to Harvard University in Cambridge. During her 35-40 hour workweek, she will gain hands-on experience in local cancer research laboratories.
While many of her friends spend their summer vacations sleeping in and going to the beach, Rodrigues will be diligently working in science labs, researching the fields of genetics, molecular biology, cell and developmental biology and furthering her commitment to biomedical research.
“One of my friends asked me, ‘Is that what you do for fun?’ and I told her yes, that is what I do for fun,” Rodrigues said with a smile. “It’s just something that really interests me.”
“I knew I wanted to help people and I’ve always wanted to go into the biomedical field. It was an amazing feeling when an organization with such a great reputation wanted me to go in and help with research.”
The mission of the CURE program is to put high school and college students in real cancer research environments and introduce them to the field. In preparation for the program, Rodrigues was told to expect to be treated as an equal in terms of the workload, which will give practical significance to her academic course work.
“It’s really important to know what I plan on majoring in and how my life will be once I graduate,” she explained. “It’s good to know that I will have the experience, that I can handle it and excel in it as well.”
The young student shared that she is grateful for the support she has received from her family.
“They’ve helped me to excel in everything I do,” she said. “They stand by me when I fail and when I succeed. They’ve always been really proud.”
“I’ve also received a lot of support from the Mount Saint Charles community, especially from guidance with getting all of my applications and transcripts sent out. I always knew I could count on them to have it there on time and that they wouldn’t just pass it off and wait an extra day.”
Rodrigues has also been inspired by her A.P. chemistry teacher Mary McNulty and her contagious passion for science.
When McNulty heard of her young student’s accomplishment, she was overwhelmed with pride.
“I knew she would get it,” she said. “Kristen is an outstanding student and we are extremely proud of her. In fact, the whole science department is overwhelmed with joy. This is what teaching is all about when your students succeed.”
As she prepares to take the next selfless steps toward a career cancer research, the teenager shared that she will rely on the memories of her courageous and loving grandmothers as motivation.
“Cancer is a close subject to me,” she said. “To know that what I plan on doing this summer could help other people in the same situation, I think they would be very proud. I can tell that they are still with me. They are inspiring me to do what I’m doing.”
August 25, 2013 - Editor's Note: Omar Zaki, a student at South Kingstown High School, was also a Rhode Islander selected for the CURE program. From June 24 until August 16, Zaki worked in the Wagner Lab in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology in Harvard Medical School. His work focused on protein-protein interactions through Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
