Endurance, precision and the ability to handle pressure are all good qualities of future physicians, and for August Culbert, they benefit him on the water as well. The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine student (Class of 2026) has been rowing for 11 years—in high school and as an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago. He found his way back to the water in Washington, D.C., where he’s enrolled in the Medical Research Scholars Program at the National Institutes of Health, a one-year research fellowship opportunity for medical students. Culbert and his fellow Potomac Boat Club oarsmen were selected to race in the highly competitive Head of the Charles in Boston, where they placed fifth out of the club designation boats in the Men’s Club 8+ event.
We asked Culbert to share more about the research he’s working on while away from Cleveland.
Answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
What do you plan on specializing in after medical school?
I am interested in the intersection of oncology, critical care medicine, and chronic or cancer-related pain, and I hope to pursue residency training either in internal medicine or anesthesia.
What kind of research are you doing at the NIH?
I am working on a clinical research project investigating infection risk and severity in pediatric and young adult patients with leukemia receiving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy at the National Cancer Institute. My mentor is Nirali Shah, MD, a pediatric oncologist at the NIH known for leading several Phase I trials implementing novel CAR T-cell products in patients. It is exciting to be in such a cutting-edge environment and learn from experts in different fields every week. The NIH is truly the mecca of bench-to-bedside research, and it has been an honor to learn from patients in the clinic and then evaluate their cells and immune system back in the lab.