KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 16, 2016 \u2013 A 2015 graduate of the 溏心vlog免费B站 has been awarded a prestigious post-baccalaureate fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of drug abuse on the brain. Bailey Mallon, a native of Wakefield who earned degrees in cell and molecular biology and biological sciences, will begin her fellowship at the National Institute of Drug Abuse in August.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be truthful, I didn\u2019t think I would get the position because competition against other unknown candidates can be so intimidating,\u201d said Mallon. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t hurt to apply, and after the encouragement I received from family and 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty, I felt pretty good about my application.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her two years at the institute, Mallon will conduct research on how addiction alters brain function and its capacity to manage normal behavior, emotional reactions and cognitive processes.<\/p>\n
The fellowship program is designed to provide recent college graduates opportunities to conduct biomedical research in anticipation of entering graduate school. This is the third year in a row that a 溏心vlog免费B站 graduate has been awarded the fellowship.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity to pave the way for an excellent skill base that young scientists need for graduate school entry,\u201d Mallon said.<\/p>\n
Mallon hasn\u2019t had much time to relax since graduating a year ago. She is nearing the end of a challenging year of teaching biology, chemistry, physics and technology to impoverished students in Guyana through the World Teach Organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cExperiencing third world poverty and its corresponding educational system is eye-opening but exhausting,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery time you take a step forward, you end up taking several steps backward. The corruption in the school system and lack of resources make it hard to navigate through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the hardships, Mallon said the experience has been positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeeping these kids interested is my biggest challenge, especially when some of them live three hours away \u2013 they take a river boat each morning and then walk an hour to get to school,\u201d she said. \u201cWith students like these, a teacher needs to be animated, intriguing and motivating to keep them coming to school and to prevent them from dropping out.<\/p>\n
\u201dBut my most frustrating and challenging experiences here are, at the end of it all, the most enjoyable. When a lesson of mine leads into classroom discussion with all participating, I know I have done my job right, if only for that small moment,\u201d Mallon added. \u201cOr when I find notes that my students leave me on my desk explaining how much I\u2019ve inspired them. I can\u2019t change the system, but I can help make a difference for a few students.\u201d<\/p>\n
She has learned firsthand about the poor health care available in the rainforest community in which she lives and works \u2013 the hospital has no soap and the nurses don\u2019t wear gloves or sterilize instruments \u2013 and yet she is still not discouraged.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith no access to anything that\u2019s standard procedure back home, you\u2019re left to your own devices,\u201d Mallon said. \u201cSo as much as these experiences might feel bad in the present moment, they are awesome experiences looking back on it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
With just weeks to go before returning home from Guyana, Mallon is looking forward to her NIH fellowship and a future career in neuroscience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m intrigued by how chemical concentrations in the brain dictate emotional states of mind and cognitive processing,\u201d she said. \u201cIngestion of certain substances, like recreational drugs, can change someone\u2019s personality, at least for a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich brings us to the philosophical question: Are we in control of our personalities and consciousness, or are we simply under that impression while the chemicals and neurotransmitters control our personalities? And what really is consciousness, if it can be altered through ingestion of different substances? These are questions I want to investigate in my career,\u201d said Mallon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 June 16, 2016 \u2013 A 2015 graduate of the 溏心vlog免费B站 has been awarded a prestigious post-baccalaureate fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of drug abuse on the brain. Bailey Mallon, a native of Wakefield who earned degrees in cell and molecular biology and biological […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}