Angela combines research and study in the Department of Pharmacology, where undergraduates take classes with graduate students.
Student portraits by David Roberts
“This past September I went to a conference in Berlin with my advisor to present my research on microglial brain cells. I was one of the only undergraduates there.”
—Junior, Pharmacology major
Acceptance into Stony Brook’s Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) program was a dream come true for Angela Kokkosis, who wants to be a physician. When Angela was selected from the incoming WISE freshmen to join the Scholars for Medicine program, an eight-year combined undergraduate and medical degree track, her first-year experience was made twice as nice.
Since the summer before her junior year in high school, Angela had been doing research in Dr. Stella Tsirka’s pharmacology lab at the University. The special classes and enrichment programs she was offered through WISE, and the close contact she enjoyed with her professors and other WISE women, gave her the confidence and sense of community to excel.
Angela has now been working in Dr. Tsirka’s lab for five years and enjoys being an integral part of the close-knit Department of Pharmacology, where working with graduate students and taking graduate-level courses are the norm for undergraduates. She is President of the Pharmacology Society and is working toward publishing an article on her research.
“I love doing research,” says Angela. “I would also love to be a physicianand see patients. So the ultimate arrangement for me would be to have a little bit of both.”