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Michael J. Young is an M.D. candidate at Harvard Medical School and a Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University. His current research examines the ethical dimensions and philosophical framework underlying standards of care in medicine and public health. Michael is also a co-investigator in the Central Nervous System Metastasis Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in collaboration with the Broad Institute, studying genomic drivers of brain tumors. Michael completed an M.Phil in philosophy from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, where he focused on philosophical issues relating to medicine and the mind. His work has appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, AJOB Neuroscience, Critical Care Medicine, Nature Immunology, Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, BMC Psychiatry, and Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy.

As a child who frequently visited the hospital, many questions about human health boggled my mind. Indeed, these curiosities lead me to the captivating world of the Medical Sciences. I was born and raised in Ogun State, southwestern Nigeria. In 2016, I obtained a full tuition fee waiver to study Biomedicine in Karolinska Institute, Sweden. I have spent my undergraduate summers carrying out research projects in various labs. My interest in cancer research developed during the later part of my education. With cancer being a global disease and a major cause of mortality worldwide, it is of paramount importance that we strive to speed up diagnosis and improve treatment. My PhD project at the MRC cancer unit involves the identification of candidate biomarkers that could be used in patient risk stratification for oesophageal cancer. It is my hope that by identifying these biomarkers, patients at risk can easily be identified and, therefore, be able to seek medical intervention at a very early stage before the disease progresses. At and beyond Cambridge, I hope to work on projects directed towards positively impacting health and lives of people including my home country, Nigeria and the world at large. I am truly humbled and beyond grateful to be part of such a prestigious international scholarship programme.

Previous Education

Karolinska Institute Biomedical Science 2019

Links

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYwjtWswB_-Y2dbeSRubGtg/featured
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aisha-yusuf-4ab620135

I was born and raised in Temara, Morocco. My upbringing ingrained in me a strong interest in science which shaped my life in multiple ways. I was always intrigued by the challenges that come with trying to understand the inner workings of the universe. How does one think like a scientist? How do we navigate the current scientific knowledge and decide on ways to push our understanding of the universe one research project at a time? Learning to think like an astrophysicist drives my academic journey, accumulating knowledge is a significant side effect. I completed my bachelor's degree in physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester. As an undergraduate, I was mainly involved in computational cosmology research. I worked on improving void-finding algorithms to contribute to the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument team's research on the baryon acoustic oscillation signal. I also worked on modeling microlensing in light curves of gravitationally-lensed quasars. Currently, as a Gates Scholar, I am enrolled in an MASt in astrophysics where I take classes and conduct a research project under the supervision of Andy Fabian and Michael Parker. In my current research, I am looking at high frequency X-ray variability in accreting Black Holes using the NICER instrument to further our understanding of these systems. Although the pandemic stripped away the full Cambridge experience, I am enjoying walks by the river, cycling around town, and trips to the Market Square.

Previous Education

University of Rochester Physics and Astronomy 2020

I am a mathematics student attending part III of the Mathematical Tripos. While my field of study is algebraic topology, I am taking a wide variety of classes in order to build up a stronger mathematical background before attending graduate school.

I completed my PhD in oncology under the supervision of Prof Rebecca Fitzgerald at the Early Cancer Institute, Department of Oncology. My work mostly focuses on the epidemiology, early detection, and prevention of gastrointestinal cancers, including pre-malignant conditions. I have experience working with large population-based cohorts, designing molecular epidemiology studies, and applying bioinformatic tools to better understand processes that drive cancer. I aim to improve our understanding of cancer to better prevent, detect, and manage these conditions to reduce the public health burden of this disease.

I am interested in understanding the relationship between genes and disease. At Cambridge I studied the genetics of type 1 diabetes with Professor John Todd. After Cambridge I pursued a MD/PhD at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine focusing on regulation and function of miR-26 in normal physiology and tumorigenesis. I am currently an internal medicine resident at Massachusetts General Hospital

I am a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at MIT CSAIL, advised by Prof. David Karger and a member of the Haystack Group and UID Group at MIT. I work on designing and building systems to improve discourse, collaboration, and understanding on the web, with applications to social media, news, political discourse, education, and civic engagement. I also conduct research on computational analysis of large-scale social data to understand topics in the social sciences. My general interests are social computing, HCI, and computational social science. Prior to MIT, I worked as a software engineer, completed a Masters in CS as a Gates Scholar at Cambridge, and a Bachelor in CS from Rutgers.

I was born in Inner Mongolia and raised in the beautiful coastal city of Zhuhai in Southern China. During my high school and undergraduate education abroad, I encountered diverse forms of living and ways of knowing the world, which inspired my passion for anthropology. Upon graduating from Duke University with a degree in International Comparative Studies, I took an internship at the International Organisation for Migration in Geneva, Switzerland. This exposure to global governance taught me the significance of employing diversified value systems and metrics for progress. Through these experiences, I have become convinced of anthropology's important role in informing situated policy by sharing localised knowledge and worldviews. My PhD project will examine how citizens of diverse backgrounds engage with revived Daoist spiritual and bodily self-cultivation practices to respond to China’s shifting socio-political landscape. Insights into the motivations and objectives of the lay Daoist adherents’ nonmaterial pursuits can inform social policy making in China and potentially in other societies undergoing rapid transformations. I am honoured to be joining the Gates Cambridge community, and look forward to mutually strengthening and sharing aspirations.

Previous Education

Duke University
University of Cambridge

I was born and raised in a small city - Linfen in Central China and received my Bachelor's in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from University College London. I went on to Imperial College London for my Master's in Machine Learning. From the four-year university life in the UK, I realised that I want to become a researcher and work in academia in the future. I enjoy being a researcher and publishing papers that could contribute to state-of-the-art technologies. I am very excited about starting my PhD study at Cambridge and discovering a whole new world. During my time at the University of Cambridge, I'll be working on the early detection of epidemic outbreaks under Professor Nigel Collier's supervision. I'm inspired by social media data's potential and interested in building applications that could improve our lives. The early detection of such pandemic situation could help the government in future planning, resource allocation, and diminishing the disease dissemination. I'm also interested in measuring risk perception in public. I hope to learn and contribute to Natural Language Processing techniques. I am extremely excited and honoured to be joining the Gates Cambridge community for my PhD.

Previous Education

Imperial College London (University of London) Computing (Machine Learning) 2019
University College London EEE 2018

Born and raised in Zhengzhou, a city in the centre of China, I moved to Switzerland with my family at 15 years old. My interest in molecular biology arose during my undergraduate studies in biochemistry at ETH Zurich, leading to my subsequent MSc studies in structural biology. My Master thesis was focused on protein synthesis in eukaryotes and resulted in the successful determination of three novel structures, furthering our understanding of this critical biological process. For my PhD study in Dr. David Barford's lab at the MRC LMB, I will be working on the anaphase promoting complex (APC/C), a key player in regulating cell cycle transitions. Defects of the APC/C are frequently observed in different types of cancers, so I hope to ultimately understand the mechanistic details of the APC/C functions by engaging various structural and biochemical approaches. I am looking forward to tackling a challenging project at the LMB and meeting other outstanding scholars in the Gates community.

Previous Education

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich MSc in Structural Biology and Biophysics 2014
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology BSc in Biochemistry 2012

Nutrition during pregnancy is perhaps the most influential non-genetic factor for fetal development and lifelong health thereafter. Global rates of obesity are increasing at an alarming rate and with that, an increase in obesity during pregnancy. Children of obese mothers have an increased lifetime risk of developing cardiometabolic problems and psychiatric disorders. My PhD work will explore how maternal obesity affects immune activity to disrupt nutrient partitioning capabilities in the placenta. Through this, I hope to elucidate the mechanisms by which maternal obesity impacts fetal growth and offspring metabolism in order to develop targeted interventions for affected children. Developmental programing, reproductive health, and diet during pregnancy as a modifiable risk factor are internationally relevant science communications and public health issues. Knowledge must move from the laboratory into policy in order to reach health services. What’s more, relevant audiences have to understand and correctly apply this information. For these reasons, I am an active proponent to improving scientific literacy and access to education and dedicate my community development initiatives to creating such educational resources.

Previous Education

University of Toronto Reproductive Physiology 2020
University of Western Ontario Medical Sciences 2018

Previous Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology B.Sc. Mathematics 2010

Links

http://yufeizhao.com

Growing up in Austin, Melbourne, Beijing and Maryland, my life has been filled with shifting residences, but remaining unchanged is a deep curiosity for the miraculous gift of “mind” that distinguishes humans of all cultures. During my undergraduate studies in Neuroscience and Behavior at University of Notre Dame, I’ve found my passion for research in the neuroscience of consciousness and human intelligence. My PhD project at the MRC Brain and Cognition Unit investigates the neural networks associated with insight problem-solving, and I hope I can help reveal how our “intuition” works and inspire conversation across interdisciplinary fields. In an age marked by technology breakthroughs, my goal is to encourage more dialogue between neuroscience and artificial intelligence. I’m extremely honored to be part of the Gates Cambridge Scholars community, and I’m looking forward to beginning the next part of my journey with my fellow Gates Scholars and creating lasting impact on the world together.

Previous Education

University of Notre Dame Neuroscience and Behavior 2019