After completing her bachelor’s degree in Tennessee and medical school in India, Abraham arrived in Louisville seven years ago. She was shadowing doctors and getting ready for a medical residency when she became intrigued by the idea of helping not just individuals but populations.

“I am a numbers person so I was comparing clinical versus population health data and seeing how research could impact a lot more people,” Abraham said.

Once she decided to embark on her master’s degree in public health at the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences (SPHIS), Abraham met Stephanie Boone, a two-time UofL alumna (MPH ’08, PhD ’13) and associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and faculty member at the Brown Cancer Center, Boone encouraged her to apply for the PhD program and got her involved in epidemiological research.

Now a graduate of SPHIS, Abraham has been working as the coordinator of the Kentucky Core (Boone, PI) of the RURAL (Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal) Study. This is a large National Institutes of Health-funded study to conduct community engagement and evaluate heart and lung diseases among rural populations in four states: Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Abraham has connected with local communities in Perry, Breathitt, Boyle and Garrard counties in Kentucky, to help recruit more than 1,000 residents and provide education and resources for unmet needs for hundreds at community meetings and events.

Since 2021, Abraham has been building a network, spreading the message and promoting the study, becoming a constant presence and trusted local contact in these counties. A mobile exam unit is traveling county by county and offering free health screenings to participants to determine lung, heart and overall wellness indicators.

Abraham, Boone and epidemiology graduate assistant Scotland Stewart, along with Community Advisory Boards established from each of the counties, meet with residents virtually or in person at city councils, church events, health fairs and festivals.

“You don’t want them to think you’re just there to use them for their data and leave,” Abraham said. “We want to share the results with the community and help them find funding or grants and design programs for what the data shows is lacking in their community.”

Establishing the participant cohort for the study has been a game changer for each community’s health now and in the future. “The CT scan on the mobile unit can measure Coronary Artery Calcium, which could show an individual if they are at risk for future heart disease, but also the scans have found incidental findings in the lung or other health concerns that people did not know existed, which is life-changing,” Abraham said. “It’s gratifying to know that your work does mean something and it is actually making a difference.”

Abraham plans to continue in her role until study participant recruitment is completed in Kentucky. After that, Abraham said she hopes to seek post-doc opportunities to take her population level research one step further into dissemination and implementation.

“Research shouldn’t just be about publishing papers, it should be about translating your findings to make a positive impact in people’s lives – that’s where my heart is.”

This year, students from Atherton, Butler, Christian Academy of Louisville, Collegiate, Fern Creek, Jeffersontown, Kentucky Country Day, Male, Martha Layne Collins (Shelbyville), Manual, New Albany, (IN), Sacred Heart, Seneca and Waggener are taking part in the summer experience.

With support from the Humana Foundation and the Regional Cancer Center Corporation, for the first time in its 23-year history, the eight-week program was able to offer students an increased stipend of $4,000 to participate and gain valuable experience in medical research. Students interested in science but who may have needed to work summer jobs, now have the opportunity to follow their interests.

UofL News spoke with the BCC High School Summer Research Program Director, Robert Mitchell, professor in the Department of Surgery, UofL School of Medicine, and deputy director of basic and translational research at UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center.

We also caught up with Erin Brock, Seneca High School science teacher and program coordinator, and participating Fern Creek High School student, Aliete Yanes-Medina.

UofL News: What is the main goal of the summer cancer research program?

Robert Mitchell: We want to give students who are passionate about science an opportunity to experience – firsthand – how a cancer research lab operates and how important it is for developing new and improved cancer therapies. I’ve heard of three or four students from this summer’s program who are now considering going into a graduate research program after finishing college. For us, that’s a huge victory.

UofL News: Each student has their own mentor and research project. How has that helped them develop as students and scientists?

Mitchell: Each student has the opportunity to present their own project at the end of the summer in poster form – a project that they were forced to learn, understand and, most importantly, put into words how scientific problems are approached and completed. It’s a powerful thing to see a young student’s pride in describing something that they’ve accomplished on their own at the end of the summer.

One of the most popular things that was added this year is the weekly rotations through five different core laboratories that make up our Drug Discovery Platform (DDP). These rotations expose students to each step of the process involved in discovering new anti-cancer drugs. I’ve witnessed kids who are painfully shy or introverted become extremely animated and excited while they were doing their own enzyme inhibition experiment during one of the DDP rotations.

UofL News: Erin, this is your first year working with this summer program. How do you see this experience helping students define their future career goals?

Erin Brock: Our model is helping kids make connections to the community, and UofL has been a huge partner. When I was in high school, I knew I loved science, so I assumed I needed to be a medical doctor – but there are so many alternatives I wasn’t aware of, just like for these students. One of the best parts of this program is getting them exposed to scientific research and helping them to discover their own passion. I think they all got something meaningful out of it.

Aliete Yanes-Medina displays her project at the poster presentation

UofL News: Aliete, what has this summer’s research experience meant to you? What has been your biggest takeaway?

Aliete Yanes-Medina: I always wanted to get into medicine, and I thought I would be going straight into patient care, but when I saw this opportunity, I realized this was something I wanted to explore. Also, personally, a lot of people in my family have had cancer, so I was emotionally connected.

My takeaway has been the fact that I’ve been learning so much and how everybody in the lab is supportive. They’ve said, ‘Hey I found this article that you may like’ and then they send it to me, or ‘Hey, I found this resource that may help you to understand the articles’ and they send it to me. It has definitely opened my mind, and my plan now is to do research in the future. I was thinking about going to college out of state, maybe doing biology, but it has completely changed what I want to do now. I’m staying at UofL.

Mitchell: It’s so amazing seeing a student light up and become inspired by cancer research. Just reaching one student like this is reward enough.