Glory Dada, C’27

For many college students, few sounds are as unwelcome during summer vacation as the clanging of a morning alarm cutting off any possibility of sleeping in. But Glory Dada, C’27, was positively energized by it: “For me it was a feeling of, ‘Yay! I get to go back to the lab!’”

A neuroscience major and pre-health student from Ibadan, Nigeria, Dada spent her summer conducting research on the campus of Yale University as part of the Sewanee-at-Yale internship program. The research-intensive internship pairs Sewanee students with a research mentor and places them in a lab led by a Yale faculty member. In addition to conducting research, Dada and her cohort of fellow interns also attended lectures to learn more about recent developments in various health fields and skill development sessions to enhance their career readiness.

Dada was placed in a lab led by Dr. Christine Cha, an associate professor in Yale’s Child Study Center, which focused on youth suicide prevention and mental health. It was not Dada’s first time conducting research—she is a member of Assistant Professor of Biology Kevin Rodriguez’s molecular and development biology lab—but it was her first time working in a so-called “dry lab.”

“I was used to working in a wet lab, where I’d be performing molecular techniques as part of the research,” says Dada. Working in a dry lab, however, meant a shift away from hands-on experiments to less physical forms of investigation like literature reviews, patient interviews, and data modeling and analysis. And while it was her first formal role in a dry lab, Dada found it to be a natural fit thanks to her neuroscience coursework, including classes in research methods and having to read countless scientific papers to prepare literature reviews. Says Dada, “Sewanee prepares you for this experience without you even knowing it.”

Since the program reserves five spaces for Sewanee undergraduates at Yale’s Child Study Center, Dada was able to rent an off-campus apartment with several of her Sewanee peers, meaning that the group got to share the summer together as interns and roommates. They worked in different labs during the day and explored New Haven and the New York area on nights and weekends, where adventures included seeking out the best pizza in the region (Sally’s, a long-running New Haven icon, emerged as a favorite).

For Dada, the entire experience proved to be invaluable. For one, it confirmed that she is on the right path toward a career in the medical field. “Getting to spend all day doing things that I love to do, working alongside people who also love it—that means everything,” says Dada.

Beyond confirming her interest in the field of medicine and medical research, though, Dada’s internship also helped to establish her within it. Though the internship itself may have concluded, Dada will soon present on her summer research at conferences and has a manuscript under review for publication, meaning that she is already making contributions to her future areas of work and study.

And, of course, the nature of the research itself also left a mark on Dada, one that she’s sure will inform her work for years to come. “Our research involved listening to people’s stories,” says Dada, “I’ll carry that with me as a physician, always remembering how important it is to see patients as people—not as work, but as people with their own stories and many things going on in their lives.”