Major: Health Sciences
Major: Biosciences (Cell Biology & Genetics)
Anne (Annie) Gao is a junior from Martel College majoring in Health Sciences and Biosciences (Cell Biology & Genetics). She felt inspired to pursue Health Sciences after taking Nutrition taught by Roberta Anding in her freshman year. As an aspiring physician, Anne believes that the Health Sciences major has exposed her to the sociocultural backgrounds and health challenges of diverse communities–she hopes to use this knowledge in establishing trusting, communicative relationships with patients, guiding them toward healthier lifestyles and disease prevention.
Coming into Rice, Anne knew that she wanted to conduct biomedical research and joined the leukemia-focused research group of Dr. Rachel Rau from Baylor College of Medicine. Under Dr. Rau’s mentorship, she investigates the effect of inhibiting different epigenetic targets in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) with mutations in the DNA methyltransferase gene DNMT3A. Throughout her time working with Dr. Rau, she has gained a greater appreciation for the role of cancer research in improving treatment outcomes. However, her Health Science courses reinforced to her that the challenges we face in addressing the cancer crisis are not only associated with finding treatments but also with many other factors, such as the psychosocial impacts of cancer on patients and their families. To familiarize herself with this different area of cancer research, she joined the Department of Health Disparities Research at MD Anderson as an intern in Dr. Qian Lu’s research group. Through this experience, Anne was able to apply her cultural knowledge and language skills in Mandarin toward addressing health disparities among Chinese American breast cancer survivors. Recently, Anne was awarded an internship with the Cancer Prevention Research Training Program (CPRTP) at MD Anderson, where she hopes to begin her exploration of cancer prevention.
Apart from cancer research, Anne is also passionate about mental health advocacy and peer health education. After taking Rice Health Advising taught by Saralyn McMorris, Anne has served as Head Rice Health Advisor (RHA) at Martel and developed targeted messaging and programs in response to student wellbeing needs. She works with Saralyn as an intern at the Student Wellbeing Office to create content that familiarizes the Rice community with wellbeing topics and awareness events. Anne also served as a Public Health Ambassador at Martel to exemplify safe living during COVID-19 and educate her peers about public health measures.
Across campus, Anne is heavily involved in the Rice Pre-Medical Society (RPMS), Crochet Club, and Peer Academic Advising (PAA) program. In her free time, she enjoys working on random crochet projects, drinking tea, listening to Taylor Swift, journaling, and exploring Houston with friends.