Hofstra student wins award for symposium presentation

Esha Sharma, a student in the BS/ MD program at Hofstra University, won a Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Award at the New England Science Symposium (NESS) at Harvard Medical School for a presentation about her research on the causes of a common form of leukemia.

Sharma, a premedical studies major from Woodbury, NY, was recognized for her poster presentation: “Deletion of miR-15/16 Cluster Alter the Distribution of Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells.”

The Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Awards recognize one oral and one poster presenter who deliver outstanding cancer-related presentations at the symposium.

For the past two years, Sharma has interned at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, working on cancer studies with Dr. Anita Ng, a postdoctoral fellow in the group headed by Dr. Nicholas Chiorazzi, professor of oncology research at the Feinstein Institutes and professor of medicine and of molecular medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Under their mentorship, Sharma has been researching the causes of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), one of the most common forms of adult leukemia in Western countries.

In her poster, Sharma showed that many patients with CLL are missing part of Chromosome 13, a defect that may also affect patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). “These missing molecules normally act as tumor suppressants, regulating how our cells grow and die,” Sharma said. “Without them, tumors may begin to form.”

Sharma, part of the Stuart and Nancy Rabinowitz Honors College, has long been interested in science, particularly in cancer research, because her mother is an oncologist. “She has touched so many lives throughout her career,“ she said, “and seeing the relationships she forms with her patients inspired me to follow her path.”

Her professors in the Biology and Chemistry departments also provided support. “Many of my professors are involved with their own research projects,” she said. “Their passion for what they do in the classroom and in the lab encouraged me do research of my own,” she said.

Hofstra’s BS/MD program is a highly selective dual-degree program that leads to an MD degree from the Zucker School of Medicine. Only students who demonstrate superior high school achievement and academic aptitude and who apply to Hofstra as first-time, full-time freshmen are considered.

Sharma plans to be an oncologist and hematologist after completing her studies at Hofstra.