Episode 33: The Diversity in Cancer Research Experience: Alexa Cumming

[00:00:00] Intro: We are a resource for learners, including every member of the Livestrong Cancer Institute’s on track educational pipeline from middle school to residency. We are a growing collection of interviews, talks, and experiences that uncover the myths and the uncertainties of cancer and careers in cancer in order to empower and inspire generations of thinkers and leaders.

[00:00:25] Intro: This is Cancer Uncovered, an education and empowerment podcast by the Livestrong Cancer Institutes.

[00:00:36] Eugenio: Welcome back to Cancer Uncovered. My name is Eugenio Solervia and I’m recording from the University of Texas at Austin. In this episode, we’re going to be talking to Alexa Cumming. Alexis is a senior here at UT Austin in the Neuroscience program and is currently also participating with the Diversity in Cancer Research Program, or DICR.

[00:00:53] Eugenio: DICR is funded by the American Cancer Society under the Dalmatic School. This program offers an opportunity for undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds to participate in cancer research, while also being supported by experienced research mentors. Gaining exposure to cancer research, and also gaining career and academic preparation centered around cancer research.

[00:01:11] Eugenio: I followed Alexis throughout the summer and was able to periodically check in on her as her research progressed throughout the weeks. Stay tuned to hear more about her research, the DICR program, and what an undergraduate can expect with DICR. Thank you.

[00:01:26] Eugenio: Thank you for joining us. I’m here today and thank you for your interest with the podcast. I’m going to go ahead and get started with our first question. So if you could tell me a little bit about yourself, where you’re from, what year you are, and also your major.

[00:01:40] Alexa: Okay. Hi, my name is Alexa. I am a upcoming senior of 18 this year.

[00:01:45] Alexa: I am a neuroscience major with a pre health professional certificate. I was born in Costa Rica, but then I moved when I was seven to the US, um, learned English here. And I think I’ve always known I wanted to do research, doctor, be in a health related field, but I’ve been really narrowing down my career path for

[00:02:07] Eugenio: the last couple years.

[00:02:08] Eugenio: That’s fine. Seeing you’re still, you’re still getting to it, so. Yes. Okay, if you could describe your experience so far at UT, how has it been since the past, past couple of years?

[00:02:17] Alexa: Um, I love it. Almost above, like. Anything else? Like, I became a very much long, like,

[00:02:24] Eugenio: Longhorn. Ride or die.

[00:02:27] Alexa: My kids are gonna be longhorns.

[00:02:28] Alexa: My family’s from Austin too, so it’s been really nice. Having them so close and I’ve met like amazing friends. A lot of my friends came from high school, too So it’s always been like a very close knit community Which is a great like a really big school. So it’s really nice that it feels pretty small I’ve joined a few organizations too that I like I adored a sorority and then it joined global medical training Which I adore and I have so much fun in and then I really ended up loving my classes and my professors a lot More than I thought I would Um, and learning, like the, you know, in high school, I thought about science is pretty difficult.

[00:03:05] Alexa: But when I got to college, it was more fun than anything else after a couple harder classes. But I just love, I want to stay here for as long as

[00:03:15] Eugenio: possible. So how has your experience progressed? Like from the beginning all the way till now, were you always sure about the certain paths that you had? At this point, since the beginning that you started your, your first

[00:03:27] Alexa: year or?

[00:03:27] Alexa: No, when I started my first year, I actually started as a speech language and hearing sciences major. Oh, that’s so late. Um, and I really liked it, but I took a neuroscience course within the major and I really liked that a lot more than phonetics. It just was more of my niche and so I changed to neuroscience.

[00:03:44] Alexa: I joined a few labs. I joined a, uh, family, uh, family lab, family planning lab with the clinic, which was really cool because I got to work. With patients like very direct Interviews and stuff and then I joined a neuroscience lab, which I also really enjoyed. So it was like super science y and then super social work kind of labs And so then from then on I did a few another summer program and it was just research So then I was kind of figuring out if just research was a path I wanted to take or medical school might be more my area.

[00:04:21] Alexa: And the research was really cool last summer, but it was very lonely during COVID too. So I was doing it from home and I was like hours just by myself in my room. And it was, it just made me feel super isolated from like the work that I was doing. So I decided definitely med school because I like it and I like the interaction,

[00:04:41] Eugenio: but

[00:04:42] Alexa: I still really do love research.

[00:04:43] Alexa: So I’m, I took on this internship kind of to see what areas, because I really loved. And I’ve worked in like a lot of areas of research and I really love them all, which kind of gets hard to pick. So for a while I thought maybe MD, PhD, but I do not know what area of research I want to go into right now.

[00:05:01] Alexa: So the only thing that’s for sure is MD, so that’s what I’m for sure doing. And then I’ll probably add a PhD or an MPH or something like that later on when I discover what area of research I really love. And so

[00:05:13] Eugenio: I guess getting a little bit more into specifically your role and what you do here with the EICR.

[00:05:19] Eugenio: Uh, right now you’re beginning your role with uh, with the lab. Is that correct?

[00:05:23] Alexa: Correct. I met with my mentor before starting the program. Super casual over lunch. I loved her from the moment we met. She’s incredible. And I was like, okay, yeah, this is for sure. Like, I feel really good about it coming in because I had that experience with my mentor too.

[00:05:40] Alexa: Um, and so we’ve just started out, did a few, we’ve seen a few speakers so far. Um, I’m starting to narrow down my research to figuring out what exactly I want to work on this summer. Um, but yeah.

[00:05:54] Eugenio: So then how, how does that process, uh, look like, uh, how, how does an ARA get down? Right, so What are your factors, or what specifically

[00:06:01] Alexa: are you looking at?

[00:06:02] Alexa: Initially, I was wor like, when I talked to my advisor, she wanted to make sure that I did something that I really cared about. And so for a while, I was thinking, you know, what experience cancer has had in my family, in my life. And so, my grandpa had prostate cancer, um, my grandma has colorectal cancer. And so she just wanted me to do something I was passionate about.

[00:06:22] Alexa: Of course. Being Hispanic and all, I wanted to look at minority populations, and she works with the School of Social Work, too, so, um, community engagement is huge, and I already have experience with, like, interviews and stuff like that in the community, so that’s also something that I was interested in. So we started just going around seeing what research question, what like gaps in the literature and that’s kind of what I’m doing right now.

[00:06:44] Alexa: I’ve narrowed it down to colorectal cancer, um, and realized that Hispanic populations have very low screening rates comparatively. Oh yeah, yeah. Um, so I think that’s kind of where I’m going to go and what point would the intervention be most helpful? What barriers exist in Austin and all around the U. S.

[00:07:03] Alexa: in preventing them from getting that screening? Um, and therefore. Lowering new chances of incidents.

[00:07:10] Eugenio: That’s, yeah. No, that’s all. I like that she mentioned do something you’re passionate about. As we had our previous speaker mention that you know, people sometimes they get intimidated by STEM careers because they don’t They get too scared about it, I think it’s too hard, but

[00:07:27] Alexa: yeah.

[00:07:27] Alexa: Sometimes I read those articles where they’re targeting specific genes and I’m like, oh my gosh, I don’t understand any of this. But then once you’re actually like in it and you start learning a little bit more, you’re like, oh, okay, this totally makes sense. Completely doable. But from the outside looking in, you’re like, I have no

[00:07:43] Eugenio: idea what this means.

[00:07:43] Eugenio: Yeah, I could definitely understand that. I mean, yeah. So, would you say that your identity played a significant role with narrowing down? Oh,

[00:07:53] Alexa: 100%. I just, it’s like something that I think I have a unique experience coming from both, like both, uh, Costa Rica, which has very public health, very, um, wide range of doctors, but not so much advanced technology, obviously, and research as they do here in the United States.

[00:08:12] Alexa: And, you know, my family’s very Hispanic, that kind of culture. Yeah, yeah. My grandparents are very traditional, so like, I understand sometimes, you know, men’s stereotypes or stuff like that prevent them from doing certain actions or behaving a certain way and the importance of family and decisions and stuff.

[00:08:27] Alexa: So I thought that was super interesting, um, and super applicable in my life because I’m very close with my family. And I think that kind of I see the impact that cancer had in my family, so I’m like, okay, I know what that feels like. Yeah. Horrible feeling. Yes, definitely. Let’s try to do something about it, you know?

[00:08:45] Alexa: That’s

[00:08:45] Eugenio: awesome. I like how you tied both of those parts in. Often times I feel like people, they go for whatever makes them more money. Or whatever is more popular like that. But if you tie it in with a passion, you can definitely feel more

[00:08:57] Alexa: motivated for it. A hundred percent. And it stops, yeah. Like a speaker said, it stops feeling like work.

[00:09:03] Alexa: Yeah.

[00:09:04] Eugenio: When you start liking what you do. Ultimately, what do you hope to gain from this,

[00:09:08] Alexa: from your experience? Um, when I came in, I really wanted to just figure out if potentially cancer was an area of research I liked. Um, to further my career, but now I’m actually really passionate about what I’m doing. So I hope it actually, like the, our findings help implement, get implemented within.

[00:09:26] Alexa: Dell and like the medical school and even our community. Um, that’s like very broad, dreamy thing. Or if I even find anything.

[00:09:34] Eugenio: You’re just starting out.

[00:09:36] Alexa: Barely starting out. Um, but I think it would be definitely an area that I would like to continue doing research in because it’s so, it affects so many people and it’s just like this big scary thing and a lot of people don’t fully understand it.

[00:09:51] Alexa: So I think that’s something that I would definitely want to continue my work in. I’m currently applying to medical school. So hopefully for Next summer I’d be starting medical school, but I hope I can continue this research at least throughout that experience. So hopefully I get to stay in Texas. Yeah.

[00:10:07] Eugenio: Yeah. Fingers crossed. Okay, and so since you’ve been in the EICR for a couple weeks already, how would you say your experience is? Well, what is your impression of?

[00:10:20] Alexa: I really liked it. I thought, I didn’t realize how much I would learn about cancer and just different, how many, um, different areas of cancer research there is.

[00:10:30] Alexa: I didn’t know even the role that social work played in cancer. Like, I had no

[00:10:34] Eugenio: idea. Yeah, people never think about that. I joined this position and I never, Thought about how many different steps and people you go through when you’re experiencing cancer.

[00:10:43] Alexa: Like I guess I always thought, okay, cancer is kind of inevitable, but it really isn’t.

[00:10:47] Alexa: Then you get screening. There’s so many things that you can do to prevent this thing and so many ways that you, the treatment, it’s not just like chemotherapy. There’s so many different types of treatments and so many areas of research and involvement and so many different people that are involved in this.

[00:11:06] Alexa: So that was extremely shocking and very cool, actually, that I got to see that, um, especially because all of our speakers kind of are playing different roles within this research in cancer. So that was really cool. Um, and I really like the people I’m with.

[00:11:20] Eugenio: I think I’ve made friends. Yeah, that’s good. It’s really nice.

[00:11:24] Alexa: Because sometimes making friends, with COVID and everything, making friends in classes. It became a little difficult because people would space out and no one would really talk. Um, so that’s really nice. And I feel pretty old, comparatively. Like, everybody else is a little younger. And I’m like a senior now.

[00:11:39] Alexa: Please, it’s fine. I’m like so excited. The best four years of your life.

[00:11:45] Eugenio: Right ahead of you. You haven’t even

[00:11:46] Alexa: started it. I know. Just enjoy it. But yeah, that’s, I’ve loved it a lot so far.

[00:11:53] Eugenio: That’s great. That’s good to hear. So, as you were saying, ultimately, You hope to, since you’re really interested about what you’re doing right now, you feel like you could do it more long term.

[00:12:04] Eugenio: You’re gonna go into, into being a doctor, into med school. What’s like your ultimate goal? From what, from what you are, from what you know right now, what would you want to be doing like 10, 15 years in the future?

[00:12:16] Alexa: Oh, that’s a

[00:12:18] Eugenio: good question. I know it’s a lot to think about. I think it’s

[00:12:21] Alexa: very dependent on like, of course, even where I get into med school, I’m sure would change my interest because I like, I like volunteering a lot, and I like seeing the impact that my work has on people.

[00:12:34] Alexa: So, if it’s like, more Gulf medicine, if it’s in the coast or something like that, I think that would be a very different track, maybe than I would take if it was more of a city medical school. Um, I definitely want to do medicine, for sure. I have no specialty in mind, I just probably, I really like primary care, I like, Emergency medicine.

[00:12:56] Alexa: I didn’t think I would like oncology, but surprisingly I do like it. I think it’s very up in the air right now. Um, and definitely research is something I would want to continue doing. I think based off, you know, how the next couple of years, I already have plans like, um, my mentor and I, she asked me if I could go speak with her at the American Cancer Conference later this year in August.

[00:13:17] Alexa: So I know I’ll be sticking with it at least for another year or so, like my work here. And so I think that’s really cool. And I’ll get to see kind of where that takes me. Um, and then. Honestly, if I could continue doing that with medical school, I know that the location thing would really be important, how accessible this work is from wherever I’m at, but I know definitely I would want to do research 10 years from now.

[00:13:40] Alexa: And hopefully be some type of doctor. Yeah. Um, and honestly, that’s the old, that’s kind of where I’m at right now. I mean, maybe I’ll have

[00:13:51] Eugenio: a family. Yeah, I know there’s more to being, yeah, than your career.

[00:13:56] Alexa: Yeah, of course. Yeah. Hopefully I’ll get to be near my family. But, um, yeah, I definitely would want to work just where I can like talk to patients a lot, but also do research.

[00:14:07] Alexa: So also I love public health as well, like seeing that work. So there’s just kind of a lot of intersectionality within what I want to do. But really being here and seeing like how much there is really in cancer. It’s shocking. It totally surprised me. No,

[00:14:23] Eugenio: that’s good that you’re already setting yourself up for what you want to do in the future.

[00:14:27] Eugenio: If you don’t like this area, you can go into this one. Right. I think it goes back into how just not to settle for what you have. Always keep striving for more and looking for more. Yeah. If you can

[00:14:36] Alexa: better that. I can, I can narrow it down to, I definitely want to be a medical doctor. And then. Science. I really want to study science.

[00:14:43] Alexa: So we’re definitely not in the B’s. This would be really cool. So, trying to figure out What, what I’m going to do.

[00:14:50] Eugenio: Well, okay. You’re just starting out the summer. So we’ll see how this goes. Yes. So

[00:14:55] Alexa: once they narrowed down my research.

[00:14:57] Eugenio: So we’ll be keeping track of you at least two more times in the middle of summer and then towards the end.

[00:15:03] Eugenio: And we’ll see how it goes. Sounds good. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Thank you. As a summit for guests, I went ahead and checked in with Alexa and asked her how she narrowed down her research topic. We also talked about new lab updates and challenges with her research. So we’re going to go with our first question.

[00:15:21] Eugenio: So we’re approaching the midpoint of our summer research program. Any lab updates? Have you guys settled on a research topic?

[00:15:29] Alexa: Yeah, so we, I decided to do colorectal interventions among Hispanic populations. And the way that we kind of decided this, we just looked up all the literature that there was and realized that for Texas having such a large Hispanic population, There weren’t a ton of studies focused on the intervention, like, you know, when patients first recognize that they need to be treated to the point where they do get diagnosed, there wasn’t anything, any interventions that, or a ton of them at least, that focused on the educating patients or communicating with them in any way.

[00:16:05] Alexa: Um, so we were just focused mostly on screening and, um, being Hispanic, that’s something I really wanted to look into, especially because I know other populations, the black population, Native American population, their screening rates are also, um, pretty low, but being Hispanic kind of resonated with me more than others.

[00:16:22] Alexa: So, um, that’s what I ended up picking as my research question and I’m super interested in it as well.

[00:16:27] Eugenio: Oh, that’s awesome. So basically, you would say your, your identity played a pretty big role in this or was that a motivator for research?

[00:16:37] Alexa: Yeah, so I found one research article that actually looked at reasons why Hispanic populations weren’t being screened.

[00:16:44] Alexa: And it was funny, I went home, like, at day, and my mom was like, Guess what they asked me to do? A colorectal exam. I was like, Did you do it? And she said, No. Like, that I could never. And I’m like, Okay. Pause. Why? I was like, It was a lot easier for me to understand, you know, the, the familyism, the different personalism, different reasons why Hispanic populations work.

[00:17:05] Alexa: Getting screened for certain types of cancers, not only colorectal cancer, but in general, multiple types of cancers. When I’ve seen it happen so much around me, even with my own mom, who like refused to get that test. It’s okay. She got a fit test. I’ve talked to her about it, but it was like, I was in different reasons.

[00:17:22] Alexa: Like it listed machismo, but being a reason, um, you know, cost uncertainty, all these things that I’m like, I’ve definitely seen, you know, my, my population, population I’m part of. use these as an excuse or a reason why they didn’t want to get tested or why they didn’t want to go get screened. So I was like, oh, this is something I want to focus on for sure.

[00:17:44] Eugenio: That’s awesome. You basically saw an issue. You saw something going on in your community and you want to make a change.

[00:17:51] Alexa: Yeah, I think that’s what, like, that’s what I really love about research in medicine,

[00:17:55] Eugenio: honestly. That’s awesome. Thank you. Okay. So going on with our third question. So have you had any type of road bumps, anything like that when it’s, um, you know, currently in the planning stage of your research, or have you guys started or tell me a little bit more of an update about this?

[00:18:17] Alexa: Yeah. So I think. My mentor, she’s so incredible and a lot of the time she, she’s like, honestly, the best person I could have ever asked for to help me with this. Um, and I think a lot, some things that I have to keep in mind that this. Research itself. Like my presentation at the end of the summer is going to be just like over the six weeks.

[00:18:38] Alexa: And I’m trying to like, I wanna know everything there is to know. So, mm-hmm. narrowing down so much. She’s been super helpful at that. But we keep running into like, oh, we wanna look at, you know, not only where, like how the, how the interventions are occurring, but like where they’re occurring and how they’re occurring.

[00:18:53] Alexa: Are they, like, what? So there’s just like so many other questions that stem from this research question that. If we had more time, I think would be really cool to look at. So I think narrowing it down and just truly figuring out what I want to present at the end of this summer. Uh, and picking, picking that one thing that I want to focus on has been, um, kind of challenging as well as I guess just the normal challenges that come with doing a systematic review for the first time ever.

[00:19:22] Alexa: I have no idea how to do it. So other than figuring that out on my own, which my help, uh, my mentor and like, there was a previous surf student as well. Her name’s Brittany. She’s been super helpful since she’s already done this before. She was like, Oh, shoot me any questions you might have. So between both, both of them, I felt very supported even when I like had no idea what was going on and then trying to conduct that

[00:19:43] Eugenio: myself.

[00:19:44] Eugenio: That’s good. So you’ve had support from people in the lab with, who’s the name of your mentor? Oh, I have Dr. Leah Noel. Oh, that’s awesome. So that’s great. So since you guys are pretty collaborative and support each other in that way, um, do you feel like your expectations for this project, have they Did you started it?

[00:20:10] Eugenio: Did you expect it to be more difficult, or more hands on, or do you feel like the work you are doing right now is living up to what you thought it would be, or?

[00:20:18] Alexa: Yeah, 100 per well, 100 percent is what I, like, I think it’s lived up to everything that I was promised at the beginning of summer, and even more.

[00:20:26] Alexa: Um, I kind of assumed, as a mentor, I thought her job was more to… Tell me if I was doing things right or wrong. And she’s so much more than that. Like, I’m going to keep working with her as long as, you know, she’ll have me. But it’s just, she’s been like, like, it’s not, I think when I first joined, I thought it was more like, you know, as a teacher, like I turn this in, she gives me feedback, grades, like grades my paper in a sense.

[00:20:52] Alexa: And then like, I just go from there, but no, it’s like, I’m actively working with her to make decisions about it. And she’s like working with me more, like way more involved than I ever thought. She would be, um, and really letting me pick what I wanted to focus on, um, instead of like trying, I think that was something really special that I got to do with her specifically was that she let me do something I was really interested in instead of like forcing me to do something that she already has previous history in working with or, you know, what her lab does.

[00:21:23] Alexa: So, I felt way more supported than I ever imagined and my expec like, through the roof with expectations. That’s great. So far. So, that’s been really, really

[00:21:33] Eugenio: incredible. That’s nice hearing. I’m glad that they gave you so much support and they let you basically, so you, ultimately it was you choosing what research question it would be.

[00:21:46] Alexa: Right. Yeah. So she, I, she’s focused a lot on minority populations, um, and through like, I think only, I mean, she focuses mostly on black populations. Um, but I think she understood that for me specifically and for like a few other students. Just doing, studying populations where we come from is super meaningful, um, and it brings a new level of personal touch to

[00:22:09] Eugenio: the study.

[00:22:11] Eugenio: At this point, we have come to the end of the summer portion of our DUCR program. All of our participants have finished presenting to the Dell medical staff. And I’ve continued on to the next phase of the research. Join me one last time as I interview Alexa and see what happened with her research, the presentation, and ongoing goals for the future.

[00:22:28] Eugenio: So thank you again for sitting with us here today. It’s our final recording, and as of now, you guys have already finished presenting your research. So, how do you feel now that you’ve presented? How did it go?

[00:22:42] Alexa: Uh, it went a lot better than I thought. Um, I was a little nervous, especially about the Q and A session that was going to happen after and I wasn’t sure if I was exactly qualified to answer, you know, they’re all professionals in their field.

[00:22:54] Alexa: I was super nervous about what kind of questions they give you, but I was actually. I felt really good about the questions more than I thought I would. Um, and now I feel like I’m, you know, I, I’m going to continue working on this project with, um, Dr. Noel, who’s my mentor, uh, and I’m super, super excited actually to figure, to find out where this takes us through.

[00:23:16] Alexa: We, um, after the presentation, we realized. That we had pretty good findings and, um, those could really, uh, set the direction for shaping future interventions and screening among colorectal cancer, um, patients in Hispanic populations. So, I think now we’re trying to, uh, finish gathering all the data and then coming up with the manuscript and really.

[00:23:41] Alexa: Trying to see what our next steps are. So I think we’re going to keep working together, which is super exciting. And I’m just, I’m really relieved and excited to see where this goes. And more, mostly relieved, honestly, now that I can meet with her on like, my own terms, kind of, and not have the pressure of the presentation being, you know, in the near future.

[00:24:01] Alexa: I can focus more on like the research itself instead of what I really want to show. What I really want to present to other people and just being nervous about that whole situation, but it went a lot better than I thought it

[00:24:11] Eugenio: would. For sure. I’m glad it went really well. Um, I know you mentioned findings.

[00:24:16] Eugenio: So this, um, research is still ongoing until the end of next semester, spring semester. Yeah. What findings have you guys, uh, you know, gotten at this point? Could you elaborate a little bit about that?

[00:24:31] Alexa: Yeah, of course. So I, basically identify, so after I conducted the systematic review, I had 14 articles or, you know, papers that have been published that did focus on interventions, um, in Hispanic populations, mostly looking at screening as the outcome.

[00:24:48] Alexa: And a lot of them focused on either doing, on doing this by increasing accessibility. prevention or education or, um, targeting, you know, using, uh, promotoras or community health workers. Yeah. Uh, yeah. To spread the education about these screening and see if that improves, um, screening rates. However, there were three studies that looked at.

[00:25:10] Alexa: Increasing self efficacy and, um, provider patient communication, um, out of the 14, whereas all the other forms of interventions had a lot more research being done. So we really found a gap in improving patients confidence and power, giving patients the power to make their own decisions and, um, having that continued relationship with like a primary care provider or like just a regular medical team that can encourage them to go get screened.

[00:25:37] Alexa: Um, and not only for colorectal cancer, for many cancers as well. So I think that’s kind of where we saw that our findings. Um, there was really a gap in our findings and where you kind of want to focus and see what, what, what does this mean? You know, like where, what can we do to, to further alleviate some of those barriers?

[00:25:58] Alexa: So did

[00:25:58] Eugenio: you feel like when you were starting off the project, did your expectations of, you know, those findings live up to what you thought it would be? Or did they change in some way or did

[00:26:08] Alexa: you find something? I actually thought that would be like kind of a key place that, like, you know, I’m pretty improving self advocacy, which.

[00:26:15] Alexa: A lot, I, I was the one who conducted, um, the, the literature review, so we’re, we’re definitely getting that checked again and just making sure I caught everything. But, um, a lot of the education wasn’t focused on, um, improving like long term self advocacy and really, truly, like, Having that education teach them or teach patients and participants about, um, like improving their relationship, basically the importance of having a primary care provider and establishing a relationship with the medical team, so, um, that could be like a future implication is using that education, whether it be by a community health worker or promotora to really target that self efficacy in participants, um, or just patients in general.

[00:26:59] Alexa: And that was something that I thought would, I would see more of, um, in, in terms of, you know, research, the role of researchers in improving screening amongst populations, but that facilitating communication, especially when there’s language barriers, as there is with the Hispanic population, um, there wasn’t a ton of, a ton of work that focused on

[00:27:20] Eugenio: that.

[00:27:20] Eugenio: I guess going on with our next question. Um, so you said the presentation was a final point of this program. What did you do to prepare for that? Do you have any tips for future people that are going to be in this program of how they can better prepare?

[00:27:37] Alexa: Yeah, so I, what I did that I think helped me the most was I had my presentation ready, honestly, a little bit late in my standards, but I had it ready four days before I presented.

[00:27:49] Alexa: And my mentor and I, I can’t, I want to keep stressing how great she is for like the rest of my life, but she like sat down with me for two hours and we practiced and just, I went over it again and again and again and she was like, if you don’t say this, say this to where. It wasn’t rehearsed. Like I, I changed it every single time I did it, but I was confident enough to know the material that I was presenting to where I’m like, okay, any question that kind of comes towards me, I can, if I, even if I don’t know the answer, I think I could answer it well enough based off the work that I have done.

[00:28:24] Alexa: Um, she was like, okay, maybe you should say this here, this year, like clarified some stuff instead of just going into it. you know, completely blind and hoping for the best and making sure that I said everything right. And, um, my, my results and my, um, implications really conveyed the message that I wanted to send.

[00:28:43] Alexa: So that was super helpful. I definitely recommend practicing with someone who knows. What, what you did, so your mentor ideally in this program, but, um, also like a student, another surf student, I think would be really helpful. That was another thing. The day, the last class that we did, the last like group session that we did, a few of us went down to The, um, like the hall, the, or the classroom area that we were going to present in, and we looked at it, we like stood up at the front, just make sure that when we got there, we were like, okay, we know exactly like where it is.

[00:29:18] Alexa: We didn’t have to go through the stress of like finding the right room, um, and knowing kind of where we were going to be presenting. And that was an, cause the screen at the, in the room where we presented. was a lot taller than me. I’m pretty short. So it’s a lot taller than me. So I was like, okay, that probably would have thrown me off because I would have tried to point or something.

[00:29:38] Alexa: But now, but I went to go do that to go see the place the day before. So I knew that that wasn’t going to be an option for me to point. So I think it was a lot more, a lot of the worries that I didn’t know were going to come up. That might have come up that day. I addressed beforehand. That’s good.

[00:29:54] Eugenio: Super helpful.

[00:29:55] Eugenio: So basically, being prepared, practicing, knowing your environment really helped

[00:30:00] Alexa: out. And yeah, knowing what you’re going to present. Um, and I think also being comfortable with, I think there was one or two questions that I was like, I honestly have no idea. I like being comfortable with saying that you don’t know, I think is.

[00:30:13] Alexa: is also something that I had to learn kind of a few days before actually presenting. My mentor tried to ask me a few questions and there were some that I was like, oh, I like the, the first couple I was like trying to answer, but I didn’t really know the answer. So I just did like a little circular logic back and forth.

[00:30:28] Alexa: And she was like, it’s okay, you can say you don’t know it. I was like, okay, well, I don’t know

[00:30:32] Eugenio: this one then. Yeah. I feel like they would be really, really understanding and it, uh, you said the audience was full of doctors and researchers, but was that mainly the, some of the main people that were there?

[00:30:46] Alexa: Yes.

[00:30:47] Alexa: So it was, um, Dr. Matsui, which was, uh, the director and then a few of the, uh, some of the, it was between doctors and researchers who came to present to us. We’re also there who visited the program, um, and then the other mentors as well. And, um, there were a lot more friends and family too that I realized that was also a fun problem.

[00:31:07] Alexa: I was excited.

[00:31:09] Eugenio: Since you finished up the summer portion of this, I want to know a little bit more, um, of what you are going to be doing. So, um, what are some of the. main things you have looking for looking into the future for this research are going to be continued continuing it or How are you going to be working it out for this upcoming

[00:31:30] Alexa: semester?

[00:31:31] Alexa: Yeah, so my mentor and I are actually meeting next week to figure out kind of what our next steps are We’ve like we want to do we want to get this published for sure. Um, so writing a manuscript is hopefully Uh sometime this uh, this semester is gonna come in the next couple weeks And for, for my research specifically, there’s also a doctor at Dell who, who focuses on this.

[00:31:53] Alexa: I actually used one of her papers in my research. So she’s coming on and proofreading her manuscript and giving her advice on this topic since she’s an expert in this field. I think we’re just kind of going to consult, kind of talk next week to try to figure out exactly what we want to work on because we have some findings, but.

[00:32:10] Alexa: I mean, I’ve never published a paper before, so I want to know, like, what exactly, like, do I do? How do I make this from just like my work to official scientific paper, journal material quality? And so that’s what we’re going to focus on next week. And, um, and then I’m going to work on her specifically in her lab, she’s working on doing, uh, qualitative interviews on, uh, with patients in the, um, rural Austin areas.

[00:32:42] Alexa: So like on the suburbs of Austin, far out on their lived experiences. And so we’re going to maybe do that also for my project. It’s still up in the air right now, um, and, and try to really ask patients. What they need from us as researchers, or what kind of interventions they would like to see, what they feel, like, what barriers are really preventing them from getting screened, um, and asking them about their experiences.

[00:33:06] Alexa: So I think that that would be really cool and super hands on experience, which I would love to love to really hear from Patients themselves,

[00:33:14] Eugenio: which is very cool. So do you feel like um after being in the program for about one summer? Do you feel like your long term short term goals? Have they changed? Has there been any new considerations of what you want to be doing?

[00:33:28] Eugenio: After you said you graduated this upcoming spring, right?

[00:33:33] Alexa: Well, I graduated in December, actually.

[00:33:35] Eugenio: Oh, okay. That’s

[00:33:36] Alexa: great. It’s a little early. But I applied to medical school this cycle. And so, I’m doing medical school interviews right now, which is super exciting.

[00:33:47] Eugenio: Oh my gosh. Huh? I’m sorry. Oh,

[00:33:52] Alexa: yeah. Yeah, no, I’m very excited.

[00:33:54] Alexa: And it’s just, it’s crazy how, you know, what I’ve dreamed of for so long is like, Just coming up. Um, but I think so. I have a semester off between. When I’ll start medical school and when I graduate, and this is kind of the project that I want to work on. I’ve decided during that semester, I want to see, try to work as much as in the lab as I can.

[00:34:17] Alexa: If I stay near Austin, um, or just in general, the Texas area, I would love to keep working in my, in this lab. Especially ’cause I, it’s something I decided I really would love to work on. I love, even if I can work on it now, sometime in the future, I didn’t realize how much I would actually enjoy the oncology research and just field in general.

[00:34:39] Alexa: Um, so that’s what I would hope to work on this summer and I, not that I regret applying. Now, I do sometimes wish I would have applied to an MD PhD program. Um, I haven’t applied to any of those yet and I can always do that later. I can always get my PhD later, but I, I hadn’t exactly found the niche of research I wanted to focus on, but I realized that this is definitely one where I could see myself working on for a very long time and it would be a great place to start in PhD research.

[00:35:14] Alexa: Not that I regret it or anything, and I can always do it later, but definitely focus my research on medical school. I think this is a good, I’ve found something that I really enjoy, so that’s very exciting.

[00:35:25] Eugenio: I’m glad to hear that you found something out from, you found something new throughout the summer experience.

[00:35:30] Eugenio: Yes. I guess our final question would be, what tips would you give to future people that are looking to get involved in research?

[00:35:39] Alexa: My biggest tip would really be to let yourself get rejected. Like, don’t apply to an opportunity, or don’t not apply to an opportunity because you think you won’t get it.

[00:35:48] Alexa: You’ll be surprised at how much you can do if you just try. Um, all of, like, the experiences I’ve had in college, I, like, went in thinking, I’m like, there’s no way I’m gonna get this. Like, there’s probably a thousand other applicants. And somebody much more qualified is going to get this. And then I ended up getting it.

[00:36:04] Alexa: And I’m like, Whoa, so, um, I think that would be my biggest tip is literally just to reach out, like if you have a, if you see a professor that. You’re like, Oh, this is what I want to do. Email it, email him, email her. Like you lose nothing by, by trying, you know, it’s not, they say no, they say no, it’s okay.

[00:36:24] Alexa: It’s not meant to be, but I think just reaching out and letting yourself being okay with getting rejected would be incredibly important and also asking questions. I feel like a lot of the time research is like, Okay. Kind of seen as this big scary thing like you’re like, oh, I have no idea how to do this or analyze this, code this, whatever.

[00:36:43] Alexa: And I mean, half of the people, like you, everybody had to learn it at some point. So just asking for help, I think, and being okay with asking for help and saying you don’t know is really important too. So that would be, just, just get out there. Try your best. You’ll, you’ll find something,

[00:36:59] Eugenio: I promise.

[00:37:00] Alexa: Yeah, there’s so much research being done in at UT and just like in Texas and around the world nowadays.

[00:37:07] Eugenio: So, thank you so much for sitting with me. It was great to hear your journey from the beginning of this towards the end, and I’m glad to hear you’re still continuing this. I’m looking for the best for you. Thank you so much for having

[00:37:20] Alexa: me on here.

[00:37:21] Eugenio: Thank you so much. Thank you, Alexa, for your time and letting us in on your experience throughout your summer with DICR.

[00:37:30] Eugenio: If you would like to participate in the upcoming 2024 DICR program, our applications will open up on November 1st, 2023 with info sessions going on November 7th and on January 24th. If you would like to check out the DRCR website, go ahead and look up the Dell Medical School Diversity in Cancer Research Internship.

[00:37:46] Eugenio: If you have questions about today’s episode or ideas for a future episode, please give us an email at livestrongcancerinstitutes at dellmed. utexas. edu. If you have more questions about the Livestrong Cancer Institute, please visit dellmed. utexas. edu. This has been Elkan Yusufovida via Reporting for Cancer Uncovered.

[00:38:04] Eugenio: Thanks for listening and learning with us.