Research

Pre-Med Student Wraps Up Childhood Cancer Research Project

by Rebecca Bernot, St. Baldrick's Foundation
August 22, 2014

Anthony Hua, a St. Baldrick’s Summer Fellow, spent his summer working on a childhood cancer research project at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. You can help kids with cancer, too.

Anthony Hua in the lab

Anthony working in the lab.

The life of a pre-med college student is tough. Think jam-packed schedules, highly competitive classes, and long nights of studying.

“Being a pre-med undergraduate, you have to find many sources of motivation to keep you going throughout the long school year,” said Anthony Hua, a rising senior at the University of California, Los Angeles.

But that motivation wasn’t hard for Anthony to find. One of his biggest sources of inspiration were his memories as a camp counselor at Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, where he spent two weeks in 2012 volunteering with children with cancer.

“It was probably the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done, mentally and physically,” Anthony said. “The kids, some half or a third of my age, have to go through so much.”

He came away from that week with a new sense of purpose. “I became thankful for my life but also felt a sense of responsibility to do what I could to help them,” he said.

That sense of responsibility led him to spend his summer working on a childhood cancer research project. As a St. Baldrick’s Summer Fellow, he works closely with his mentor, Chintan Parekh, M.D., a St. Baldrick’s Scholar at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), to study a molecule called DANCR.

Since DANCR was only discovered in 2012, not much is known about its function. Anthony and Dr. Parekh are studying DANCR’s role in normal cells and in leukemic cells. If they can prove that turning off DANCR slows down leukemic cell growth, it could lead to a new treatment for kids with T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Anthony Hua and mentor Dr. Chintan Parekh in front of CHLA

Dr. Parekh and Anthony in front of CHLA.

Anthony says his first time working in a lab has been an eye-opening experience. “It’s given me a fuller perspective,” he said. “You realize how much work it really takes.”

Although the work has been a practice in patience, Anthony said he’s still enjoyed it. He doesn’t even mind making the hour-long, traffic-heavy commute to and from Los Angeles every day.

“I would probably drive double what I drive now and still be OK with it because I get an opportunity to fight cancer,” Anthony said. “To me, the meaning of life is to have fun, help as many people as you can, and help as many people have fun as you can. I get to fulfill my goal this summer working toward giving children affected by cancer a chance at a normal life, and it has been truly amazing so far.”

You can help give children with cancer a chance at a normal life. Donate to research.

Fund Research

Read more about research funded by St. Baldrick’s:

Share: