Emory University student Oludamilola “Dami” Taiwo was one of 10 students selected for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation’s 2022 Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) Program. The POST Program aims to encourage sharp, young minds to focus on pediatric oncology research, and is funded by ALSF’s corporate partner, Northwestern Mutual, which has long supported this particular cause.
Taiwo is currently finishing up medical school at Emory University with plans to begin a career as a neurologist. Through the program, Taiwo took advantage of an opportunity to work with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and conduct research concerning systemic biases existent within oncology treatment — a subject of great passion to the bright student.
“I found this program from a mentor of mine in my second year, and I was able to apply later in the year,” Taiwo told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Now he’s less than a year away from finishing school.
“Yeah, it feels good,” he said. “It’s kind of nerve wracking. I’m applying to residency right now, which is like the actual job. And it’s a bit stressful. But I’m really looking forward to not being a student.”
All the same, Taiwo greatly enjoyed his time with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
“I already knew that Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta was a very expansive group and covered most of Georgia, but I didn’t know how much it works in the Southeast in terms of getting people in for clinical trials as well as their patient population — people coming from everywhere.
“And they were very helpful with me to get connected with different groups that could help me formulate my research project. So it was very lovely. The lead of my project, his name is — Dr. Hong — he actually also did the Alex Lemonade Stand when he was in medical school, so he showed me along and then he connected me with his colleagues. So I was able to kind of get a leg up in terms of finding proper resources, and that was really good.”
Participating in the 2022 Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) Program is about more than networking though, and Taiwo was up to the task.
“My research is about understanding disparities in pediatric clinical trial enrollment, particularly for solid tumors,” he explained. “Basically, when it comes to adults, if you have a cancer, there’s a lot of different ways you could treat it. And most adults don’t choose to do these new clinical trials that are coming up in the lab to find a way to to treat it.
“There’s a lot of small things that go into that, but for the pediatric population, almost every child does it. Once they figure out they have cancer, they’re enrolled in a trial and they’re starting immediately because you wanna give them the the best quality of care every single time.”
For someone finishing up their degree, the pressure to succeed under the spotlight can be intense. According to Northwestern Mutual’s press release, he is one of the students that “hold the key to future research breakthroughs.”
But Taiwo takes it all in stride.
“That’s a lot to take in,” he said. “I kind of feel more of like a joy when it comes to that in the sense that there’s a community that’s wanting to do this good work — just want do this research. And there’s so much support.
“It’s almost like you can’t lose on this. You really were able to really make a difference. And now that financial partners are with us, like Northwestern, I don’t feel like there’s anything not within the grasp of pediatric research and oncology research that can’t be done. So I know that it is a big thing; it is a big role, but I feel happy to be part of that community to help figure things out.”
The research is not about the accolades, networking or the spotlight. It’s about saving lives.
“Although more than 17,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the United States each year, childhood cancer research continues to be significantly underfunded,” Steve Radke, president of the Northwestern Mutual Foundation said in the press release. “These students hold the key to future research breakthroughs, and we are honored to support them as they advance their knowledge and passion in discovering innovative childhood cancer treatments.”
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