Translate 2016 Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellows
Whitney Eng, MD
Residency: University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Research Interests: Whitney has interests in benign hematology including bone marrow failure, thrombosis, platelet disorders and sickle cell.
Whitney graduated from Brown Alpert Medical School with a combined BS/MD. During her time there, she was elected to Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society. Between her first and second years of medical school she pursued a medical fellowship with the ACLU advocating for the reproductive health of minority women. Whitney also worked as a research assistant at Boston Children’s Hospital under the direction of Dr. Daniel Kohane to develop a novel drug delivery system for the treatment of otitis media. Whitney has been granted numerous awards for her strength in writing. As a research assistant at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, she worked with Dr. Akiko Shimamura studying myelodysplastic syndrome.
Suzanne Forrest, MD
Residency: Boston Combined Residency Program
Research Interests: Suzanne has interests in clinical and translational research in oncology.
Suzanne graduated cum laude from Wellesley College with a degree in History. After receiving her undergraduate degree, Suzanne worked for the Spinal Muscular Atrophy foundation for three years as a research assistant, then as a clinical project coordinator. Suzanne also worked as a caretaker for a child with SMA. Suzanne graduated cum laude with her medical degree from Yale School of Medicine. In her second year, Suzanne was named a Farr Scholar and presented her research at the Medical Student Research Day. For her award-winning medical thesis, Suzanne found that elevated pulmonary artery systolic pressures on echocardiogram were associated with subsequent development of proteinuria in children with sickle cell disease.
Michelle Schoettler, MD
Residency: Boston Combined Residency Program
Research Interests: Michelle is interested in benign hematology, especially clinical research in immune cytopenias, HLH and bone marrow failure.
Michelle received her undergraduate degree in Neurobiological Sciences and Psychology from the University of Florida Gainesville. She received her medical degree from Wake Forest School of Medicine and held membership in AOA. While at Wake Forest, Michelle was an Albert Schweitzer Fellow; she established and ran a health education program at a local shelter for homeless teen mothers. Michelle held numerous executive roles within the Student National Medical Association while in medical school. She was also involved in tutoring in math and science for high school students. As a research assistant, Michelle worked with Drs. Ellis Neufeld and Rachael Grace using retrospective chart review to study immune cytopenia development post solid organ transplants and patients with ITP.
Amy Sexauer, MD, PhD
Residency: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Research Interests: Amy has interests in basic and translational research studying malignant hematology.
Amy graduated summa cum laude from the University of Georgia Honors program, where she received degrees in both German and Microbiology and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Amy was the recipient of a Fulbright research grant and worked in a lab in Münster, Germany, on a project related to STAT-5 signaling in AML, and began her interest in both RTK signaling as well as the biology of FLT3-mutated AML. She received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as well as a PhD in Cellular Biology. Amy’s PhD thesis project was, “Terminal myeloid differentiation in vivo is induced by FLT3 inhibition in FLT3/ITD AML”. In addition to her research strengths, Amy is an active musician, playing viola in multiple orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout graduate school and residency. Amy also volunteered as a part of the medical staff at Camp Sunrise, a camp for children diagnosed with cancer.
David Shulman, MD
Residency: Boston Combined Residency Program
Research Interests: David has interests in drug development and experimental therapeutics in clinical settings.
David graduated summa cum laude from Union College with a degree in Biology and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. David received many recognitions at Union for his outstanding performance as a pre-medical student. David was granted a Minerva fellowship from Union College in which he worked for Partners in Health in Malawi helping pharmaceutical services and teaching in an orphanage. David received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. During his first year of medical school, David continued with Partners in Health helping with the implementation of cancer services in Rwanda. For his senior thesis, David worked with Dr. Olberg to examine the neuronal basis of visual prey-capture systems in dragonflies. For this, David designed and programmed software to analyze the data and presented the findings at the 2008 East Coast Net Neurobiology Conference in Woods Hole.
Joelle Straehla, MD
Residency: University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital
Research Interests: Joelle would like to bring new technologies to the field of immunotherapies.
Joelle graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florida Gainesville with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering. Joelle received her Medical Degree from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Joelle has many honors including election to AOA, MSSRP Outstanding poster award, Association of Women Surgeons best poster award, and Phi Rho Dennis Award. Joelle worked in the Jeruss lab as a part of her thesis studying novel therapeutic agent in breast cancer cells in vitro, evaluation of the effects of stem cell conditioning on metastatic tumors in vitro and in vivo. Joelle worked in the lab of Dr. Michael Jensen in research in chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for leukemia, making contributions by using her bioengineering principles to optimize a novel treatment strategy.
Catherine Taylor, MB BChir DTMH
Residency: Boston Combined Residency Program
Cat graduated with her medical degree from Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. She received her Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical and Preventative Medicine at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru in 2013. Catherine received many honors and awards for her work including poster prizes for projects on leukemia and hematology. Catherine has been in Boston for her residency for the last 3 years while working on research related to sickle cell and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She will join the fellowship program from July until October 2016 before returning to the UK for further training.