UPDATE 2022: Paubox Kahikina STEM Scholarship
ALOHA! My name is Anna Marie Puaala and I am a senior at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Mathematics. I was selected for the Paubox Kahikina Scholarship last year for the 2021–2022 school year.
Since being selected for the scholarship in 2021, I was able to travel abroad to Copenhagen, Denmark to take courses required for my major at Bates. Some of the courses that I enrolled in abroad were Immunology, Human Health and Diseases, and Epigenetics and the Environment — which continued to foster my interest in science and medicine. In addition, this past summer I was selected to participate in the SURF (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) program at the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. For 10 weeks, I worked on a renal cell carcinoma project where I was taught how to culture cells and how to perform experiments such as siRNA transfections, western blots, MTS assays, and more on the various human RCC cell lines that I was trusted with. This was my first time working in an experimental laboratory and it was an experience unlike any other that I have had thus far.
After working at the Mayo Clinic, I realized that I do not want to just become a doctor of medicine. I want to continue to do cancer research. Needless to say, I am now leaning toward an MD-PhD. I am a first generation student of native Hawaiian ancestry who comes from a low-income household on O’ahu. The Paubox Kahikina STEM Scholarship is helping me tremendously by relieving me of my college expenses and by simply believing in me. I could not have done this without the help of Hoala and the scholarship committee. I will forever be thankful for all that they have done for me. The journey continues as I go into my senior year on route to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a thesis. The dream to return home after obtaining the necessary knowledge and skills to practice medicine and conduct research to give back to the community remains.