Emily is a PhD candidate in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, where she works in the Momin Lab developing immunotherapies for cardiovascular disease. As an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, she leverages protein engineering to design targeted therapies that modulate the immune response after a heart attack to reduce inflammation and fibrosis, preventing heart failure. Emily earned her BS in Molecular Engineering from the University of Chicago and an MS in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of the lab, she loves watching Dodgers games and going to farmers markets to buy produce for her next baking project.

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What is a healthcare advancement you hope to see in your lifetime?

In my lifetime, I hope we can find a functional cure for type 1 diabetes, as insulin is effective but not curative. By understanding what triggers the autoimmune response, or by improving therapies, such as stem cell or organoid approaches, to evade immune response, we could shift type 1 diabetes from a disease that has to be managed to one that can be cured.

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What excites you most about working with ARTIS?

Working with Artis Ventures as a fellow will allow me to help shape the next generation of therapies that improve human health. During my PhD I have had the opportunity to develop cutting-edge therapeutics and working with Artis Ventures will allow me to expand my scientific vision by building a community of scientists and investors who share that same goal. I am excited to learn from and contribute to a firm that shares my drive to bring transformative therapies to the clinic.

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What is the most influential content you read last year?

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez, which examines how data systematically disfavors women across nearly every aspect of modern life. Specifically, within healthcare, it highlights how female subjects have historically been excluded from pre-clinical and clinical drug testing. As a scientist conducting pre-clinical research myself, it has pushed me to think more critically about sex as a biological variable in my own experimental design, and how the field needs to close this gap moving forward.

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