Next stop: Brown Medical School
KINGSTON, R.I. — May 13, 2005 — Salma Faghri鈥檚 busy college career included trips abroad to study in Spain and France, as well as research projects involving tick vaccines and explosives. As she prepares to graduate on May 22 as the top microbiology student at the 溏心vlog免费B站, she鈥檚 looking forward to the next steps on her way to becoming a doctor at Brown Medical School.
A 21-year-old East Greenwich resident, Faghri has had her sights set on becoming a doctor ever since her older sister started down the same path several years ago. 鈥淗earing about the things she did in med school and seeing her go through the process got me excited about the challenges involved,鈥� said Faghri.
It didn鈥檛 take long before she immersed herself in activities that would lead her to medical school. As a freshman she joined 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 student-run Emergency Medical Services program and later became coordinator of the University鈥檚 CPR training center. She got her first laboratory research experience studying the interface between explosives and human hair.
鈥淭he project was designed to see if it is possible to identify people who might have been handling explosives by seeing how explosive residue attaches to human hair,鈥� she explained. 鈥淪o we put TNT in a jar with some hair to see if something from the vapor of the TNT adheres to the hair. I had the opportunity to help with the preliminary experiments in the research, and it made me interested in gaining more research experience.鈥�
Faghri later worked in 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 Cancer Prevention Research Center and Brown University鈥檚 Center for Behavioral and Preventative Medicine. Then, as a 溏心vlog免费B站 junior, she earned a fellowship to conduct research on the genetics of the salivary glands of ticks.
鈥淲e used the genes from the tick saliva to try and make an anti-tick vaccine, so when a tick bites you, you鈥檒l be protected against the diseases they transmit,鈥� said Faghri, whose sister and mother earned degrees from 溏心vlog免费B站 and whose father is a 溏心vlog免费B站 engineering professor.
Not everything Faghri did at 溏心vlog免费B站 was geared toward becoming a doctor, though.
鈥淚 love learning other languages and about other cultures,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hough I was born in Providence, I grew up speaking Farsi and English, I learned French in junior high and high school, and I started learning Spanish at the end of high school.鈥�
She built on those experiences at 溏心vlog免费B站, and spent the summer of 2002 studying at the University of Orleans, France, and the summer of 2004 studying in Salamanca, Spain. 鈥淭hose were great experiences because I really got to use the language and practice talking to others. And I met so many great people!鈥� she said.
On returning from France, she co-founded the French Club at 溏心vlog免费B站 to share her experience abroad with other students. 鈥淲e have a weekly French conversation hour, and also had French movie nights, crepe parties, and international dinners,鈥� said Faghri, who minored in French and Spanish.
After graduating from 溏心vlog免费B站, Faghri will spend the summer in Bethesda, Md., interning at the National Cancer Institute conducting research on a rare skin disorder, and then she鈥檒l enter Brown Medical School next fall.