Millhauser Fellowship

Laila Phillips ’11

Laila is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Microbiology at the University of Texas at Austin, studying symbiotic bacteria living in the gut of insects under Principal Investigator Dr. Nancy Moran. After 14 years at Park, Laila completed her undergraduate studies at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 2015 with a minor in Studio Art, a major in Biology, and a Senior Honors Thesis in Microbiology. After discovering her passion for studying interactions between animals and bacteria, she moved back to Baltimore to work as a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Division of Gastroenterology at Sinai Hospital.

Eric Albuquerque ’16

Eric is pursuing his M.D./Ph.D. degree at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience with minors in Mathematics and Chemistry from the University of Rochester in 2020. Currently, he works in rodent nonclinical models and in humans leveraging skills and knowledge from all previous projects to develop novel noninvasive devices to improve rehabilitation outcomes in patients with spinal cord injuries. Throughout his time at Park and beyond, Eric has always tried to balance his academic pursuits with his interests outside of the STEM field (like musical performance and swimming) to build a holistic and professionally satisfying career in and outside of work.

Jeremy Cohen ’12

Jeremy graduated from Park in 2012 and went on to Princeton University, where he received his B.S. in Computer Science. After working at Spotify in New York for two years as a software engineer, he moved to Pittsburgh to begin a Ph.D. in machine learning at Carnegie Mellon University, where he is now in his fifth year. Jeremy’s research interests include machine learning and optimization, artificial intelligence, and robotics.

Elana Liebow-Feeser ’14

Elana is studying medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from Tufts University. Elana initially developed an interest in delivering medical care to under-resourced Spanish-speaking populations during her senior project at Park when she volunteered at University of Maryland’s Shock Trauma Center. After graduating from Tufts, she worked for the JHU Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care as a Research Program Coordinator for a pulmonary auscultation and ultrasound study based at the National Institute of Child Health in Lima, Peru. 

Emma Bratton ’10 

is studying to become a veterinarian at The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Veterinary Medicine. She is a graduate of Brown University where she double majored in Philosophy and Biology with a focus in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Emma is passionate about animal welfare science and has created her own clinical rotation track at OSU around issues related to this topic. She has presented her research nationwide. Emma was selected to represent the state of Ohio at the American Veterinary Medical Association Legislative Fly-In, where she was able to lobby members of Congress.

Samuel Hulse ’08

is a Ph.D. student studying evolutionary biology and computational neuroscience at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). He is a graduate of Juniata College where he earned a B.S. in Environmental Science. Samuel is currently a Teaching Assistant for both Comparative Physiology Lab and Anatomy and Physiology Lab at UMBC. He is a recipient of the Chateaubriand Fellowship, given by the Embassy of France in the United States to foster research partnerships between the two countries.

Lia Boyle ’04

Lia attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, briefly pursued a career in professional theatre, but then became interested in medicine while volunteering at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, where she was later hired as the Fragile X Clinic and Research Coordinator. She subsequently worked as a research technician at the University of Pennsylvania and then completed the Post Baccalaureate Premedical Program at Bryn Mawr College. She enrolled at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons in 2013, and was awarded a NIH Summer Research Fellowship to work in the lab of Dr. Wendy Chung, a clinical and molecular geneticist, the summer after her first year of medical school.

She then joined Columbia’s M.D./M.S. program following the completion of her preclinical medical education and major clinical year to continue her work in the lab. Lia accepted a predoctoral appointment in Columbia’s Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical studies, putting her medical school studies on hold to complete her Ph.D., with the plan of ultimately graduating with both an M.D. and a Ph.D. Lia is planning a career as a pediatric geneticist who will study and treat rare neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dave Peck ’07

As an undergraduate student at Tufts University, David studied biology, psychology, and environmental science. After graduation, he moved to Cornell University to enter the Ph.D. program in Neurobiology and Behavior. His work at Cornell focuses on the behavioral interactions between parasites and their hosts. He has studied the behavior of ticks possibly manipulated by the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, the behavioral manipulations of a sterilizing Chlamydia infection in laboratory mice, and, most significantly, the behavioral interactions between honey bees and the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, which is largely responsible for failing colony health in recent years.

In autumn, winter, and spring, David analyzes his data, works on theoretical models of host-parasite evolution, designs further experiments, teaches classes, and writes scientific manuscripts. In the summer, he spends what feels like every waking moment wearing long-sleeved shirts in the hot sun, lifting wooden hive boxes containing as much as 80 pounds of honey and tens of thousands of insects that could each, if so inclined, deliver a decidedly unpleasant sting. For reasons that are still unclear even to him, he enjoys this very much.