David Z
- Research Program Mentor

MD/PhD candidate at University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)

Expertise

Medicine, Genetics, Biomedical Informatics, Computational Biology

Bio

I am currently a fourth-year in the MD/PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania. I studied computer science and biology in college, the combination of the two ended up informing my research experiences and interests in computational biology and biomedical informatics. For my PhD, I am investigating computational methods for leveraging genomic data in understanding human disease pathophysiology. When I'm not running around the hospital or in the lab, I enjoy making music. I started with the violin, then sang in college, and am now involved in orchestra conducting here in Philadelphia. I love making music, studying music, talking music. I'll also never turn down a casual pickup game or a run by the river.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Comprehensive review of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease

This project involves taking a deep dive into understanding the clinical pathology and epidemiology of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. You will learn about the pathogenesis of the condition including relevant anatomy, genetic and environmental risk factors, diagnostic methods and criteria, and management/treatment options. Furthermore, you will focus on the genetic risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease including summarizing published literature as well as using your collected data to generate your own polygenic risk scores for the condition.

Coding skills

python, R, java

Languages I know

Mandarin, native; Spanish, conversational

Teaching experience

I was a teaching assistant in college for 2 years for various computer science and physics courses. My roles involved leading discussions and labs, grading assignments, and holding office hours. I also spent a significant amount of time as a TA teaching individual students from helping them with difficult concepts to helping them plan out how to tackle a large project. I was also a private chemistry tutor in high school.

Credentials

Work experience

Harvard Medical School Department of Biomedical Informatics (2018 - 2018)

Summer program research intern

Brigham and Women's Hospital (2017 - 2017)

Summer research intern

Education

Cornell University

BA Bachelor of Arts (2020)

Computer Science and Biology

University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)

MD/PhD Doctor of Medicine and of Philosophy candidate

Medicine and Computational Genetics

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David Z - Research Program Mentor