Welcome, 2021 CanSUR Scholars!

Following a record-breaking application cycle, the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC) Office of Cancer Training and Education is proud to announce the 32 scholars selected for the 2021 Cancer-focused Summer Undergraduate Research Program (CanSUR).

A composite of the 2021 CanSUR scholars headshot portraits

Scholars were selected from 419 applications from students at 92 schools spanning the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. In an effort to minimize travel, ensure the health and safety of all participants and expedite orientation and access protocols to laboratories across our institutions, many members of this year’s class are students at Case Western Reserve University or had existing placements in our members’ labs. We are hopeful that in 2022 it will be safe for our scholars to once again come from various corners of the country to learn with us in Cleveland!

These well-rounded scholars are a diverse group with varying career goals and interests, representing the top of their class with an average GPA of 3.85. Students submitted responses to three essay questions as part of their applications and their stand-out stories told more about them than their hopes to apply to medical or graduate school after graduation. Scholars come from a breadth of background and experience: one volunteering in several Sudanese hospitals, one leveraging their bi-lingual life experience to assist their school with a virtual project and another having a private pilot’s license, to name a few!

On Tuesday, June 1, scholars will kick off the program with a virtual Cancer Immersion Bootcamp of interactive cancer research lectures and are given the chance to get to know each other before embarking on the remaining eight weeks of their mentored research experience. Throughout the program, scholars will participate in weekly “Lunch and Learn” sessions, engage in small group projects with junior mentors, and if guidelines allow as the summer progresses, will be able to connect outdoors for socially distanced activities. The 2021 Cancer-focused Summer Research Program will conclude on Thursday, July 29 when scholars present their summer research in their final virtual symposium.

Please join us in welcoming our #CanSUR2021 scholars to the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center:

Joshua Adams, Case Western Reserve University

Tiana Anthony, Case Western Reserve University

Vivek Aslot, Case Western Reserve University

Alyssia Broncano, Case Western Reserve University

Lauren Carmon, Case Western Reserve University

Oswin Chamian, Case Western Reserve University

Lisha Chen, Case Western Reserve University

Kiran Desai, Case Western Reserve University

Madison DeTullio, John Carroll University

Prateek Dullur, Case Western Reserve University

Serena Gillmore, Clemson University

Marcus Hong, Kenyon College

Jonathan Kass, Case Western Reserve University

Erryk Katayama, Case Western Reserve University

Solomon Li, Case Western Reserve University

Dev Luangani, Case Western Reserve University

Manav Midha, Case Western Reserve University

Olivia Min, Case Western Reserve University

Keren Moiseev, Case Western Reserve University

Phuong Nguyen, Case Western Reserve University

Cyrus Nosrati, Case Western Reserve University

Sarah Olmstead, Stanford University

Nihal Paidipelly, Case Western Reserve University

Juan Perez, Case Western Reserve University

Shwetha Ramachandran, Case Western Reserve University

Nandini Sarkar, Case Western Reserve University

Daniel Shao, Case Western Reserve University

Maeve Slife, Case Western Reserve University

Vedant Thorat, Case Western Reserve University

Lindsey Tout, Cleveland State University

Ahmed Yousif, Stanford University

Lyndon Zhu, Case Western Reserve University