Emma Parks Student Profile in Immunology
Emma Parks
Mentor: Maralice Conacci-Sorrell, Ph.D.
Undergraduate Degree: Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering
Undergraduate Institution: Carnegie Mellon University
Hometown: Palm City, Florida
Awards/Fellowships: Streilein award for best qualifying exam in 2024, NIH F30 award in 2025
Research Topic: Immunometabolism in Liver Cancer
How did you become interested in science and/or research?
I fell in love with research pretty young. At first, it was just simple curiosity. I wanted to understand how things worked at the most basic level. And the more I learned, the more I loved it, and I just keep falling further down the rabbit hole.
Please describe your research.
I work on understanding liver cancer metabolism, and how it affects our bodies’ immune response to the cancer itself.
Why did you choose UT Southwestern?
The culture of collaboration was one of the biggest pull factors for me.
What do you think makes the Immunology Program one of the best?
I really love being in a program where we all challenge each other to become better scientists.
What do you love about the Immunology Program?
This goes for most of UT Southwestern, but I love how open everyone is to helping other researchers across the program. There truly isn’t any competition, and we’re all happy to provide whatever expertise or insight we can to help our colleagues. I just think it’s a lovely environment and I wouldn’t want to do science any other way.
– Emma Parks
