Erin Paul ’19 recently completed her undergraduate degree in genetics. During her time at Purdue University, Erin conducted research in Dr. Stephen Konieczny’s pancreatic cancer lab where her research focused on investigating the roles of two proteins that are overexpressed in pancreatic cancer. Erin will be starting veterinary school at Purdue in the fall.
“I always knew I liked the science side of medicine but wasn’t sure how to factor that into a career where most people become general practitioners. By doing undergraduate research, I discovered my passion for research and was exposed to different career paths that will allow me to combine research and medicine in my future career.”
Erin would like to complete a residency and work in clinical oncology research. When asked what advice she would give to other undergraduate researchers, Erin said, “It can be easy to get discouraged when starting research, because you probably are thrown into completely new science and ways of thinking. Especially when experiments and results don’t go your way, which will happen, it is important to maintain a positive perspective: science is the best teacher of failure.”
Undergraduate Research Blog 