Since I was in med school, I fell in love with Immunology. After finishing med school, I really wanted to do immunology-related research and get involved with it deeper. After being in contact with oncology patients, I felt like I wanted to help those people not only from the bedside but also from the bench top, where I could contribute to improve current cancer therapies. Then, I decided to go for the PhD! The immunology graduate program at Pitt is one of the highest ranked in the country, not only because the modern infrastructure and equipment but also because of the high academic quality of its faculty. After going through the IGBP website, I found many researchers working in tumor immunology whose investigations were published in top-tier scientific journals. Those reasons helped me decide to have Pitt as one of my top choices to go for grad school.

I am interested in tumor immunology, particularly the tumor microenvironment and how to overcome immune suppression that originates in the tumor cells. My laboratory focuses in monoclonal antibody immunotherapy and the cellular immune mechanisms in T cell and NK activation against tumor antigens from head and neck cancer.