Hi, I'm Emily. 

I completed two years of medical school before joining Dr. Bruno Di Stefano's lab in 2022 to study stem cell biology and controllers of cell fate. I am set to defend my PhD in November 2026 and rejoin the medical school in January 2027 to complete my MD degree. 

We all start as a sperm and egg merging together to create a single-celled zygote, which then doubles and doubles and doubles enough times to form a human being. Just as we start life as nondescript newborns with near-infinite potential, only to individualize and specialize as we grow older, our original stem cells also specify as we develop over time. How do one of those original cells become fated to form a neuron in the brain? Or a melanocyte to create our skin color? What makes adult skin cells able to replicate over and over again, and why can't heart cells do the same? These are the questions that keep me up at night, and keep me in lab at day (and at night). 

In undergrad, I was at Wellesley College studying neuroscience and involving myself in a variety of research projects. There, I published my first paper with Dr. Sara Wasserman about how flies from the desert literally see the world differently from your average fruit fly.

After graduating, I moved to New York City to work as a research assistant at The Rockefeller University in Dr. Paul Greengard's lab. There, I worked on a project that uncovered why aging increases the risk of developing Parkinson's disease (hint: senescent cells AKA "zombie cells" are involved). 

I was also jogging, improving my cooking/baking skills, getting addicted to crossword puzzles, and reading for fun. 

If you want to learn more, check out my CV below.