AKSHAYA SANTHANARAJ

2020-2021

Hometown: Oklahoma City, OK

Undergraduate: Rice University

Major: Bioengineering, B.S.

Technology: cervical cancer point-of-care screening device & training models, COVID-19 testing kits, infection prevention bundle. While studying bioengineering at Rice University, I developed a passion for global health through my internship with Rice 360 at the Polytechnic Institute in Blantyre, Malawi in 2018. Afterward, I researched in Dr. Richards-Kortum lab during my junior and senior year, working on HPV 16/18 detection and lateral flow strip studies to optimize a low-cost point of care device to screen for cervical cancer. I am currently applying to medical schools and hope to use the skills I have acquired throughout my undergraduate education and my experiences with global health in a clinical setting as a physician. As a fellow, I am helping to develop an infection prevention bundle to detect, screen, and prevent hospital-acquired infections impacting neonates in developing settings. I am also assisting in the use of the cervical cancer screening tests. I am continuing my work in the Richards-Kortum lab by designing tube inserts to multiplex HPV assays for cervical cancer screening and helping to create COVID-19 screening tests with MD Anderson.