Our Teachers

Rickey Torrence, a high school science teacher with 24 years of experience, joined the METEOR program to combine his passion for education with his interest in the medical field. He was drawn to the program because it allowed him to explore career options in the clinical and medical fields while also pursuing a graduate certificate in teaching. Throughout the program, Rickey took several graduate courses focused on improving his STEM teaching techniques. These courses provided him with practical strategies that he could apply immediately in his classroom, helping him design better STEM projects, improve assessments, and enhance student engagement and retention of the material.

Rickey’s summer research experience was equally enriching, as he divided his time between two clinical teams. One team worked on a clinical trial collecting data on children with allergies, providing important insights that would help clinicians offer better care. The other team focused on childhood diabetes, exploring non-medication methods to manage symptoms in children. Rickey praised the METEOR program for offering teachers professional development opportunities that are more meaningful and applicable than typical workshops. He valued how the program bridged the gap between the classroom and real-world clinical research, improving both his teaching and his understanding of medical research.

Courtney was mentored by Tarik Haydar, PhD, Director of the Center for Neuroscience Research at CNH/CNRI and tenured Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology and Physiology at GW University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences. As a result, the teacher will receive a STEM certificate from GW and a stipend. To conclude the program, all students and the participating teacher presented their work/research this summer to their peers, GWU School of Education Faculty, and mentors. Mentors were given the option to request continued work with their METEOR student/teacher. Of the 2021 cohort, three students started their work and our METEOR teacher continued her work in Dr. Haydar’s lab through 2022.

Andrew Schuster research worked with a de-identified human subjects data set of serial microbiome assays of infectious complications in Cystic Fibrosis with Dr. Andrea Hahn, from the Center for Genetic Medicine Research. Dr. Hahn helped teach a technique called metagenomic sequencing analysis. Due to the pandemic, in person meetings were impossible, so the pair instead relied on weekly check ins, readings, and other self-guided tutorials. Despite the circumstances, he was able to develop the skills needed to create coursework for his students in the 2021-time frame. Our teacher who worked with Dr. Hahn, based his summer project on the current work he was doing at his school.

Francisco Barrera worked with Conrad Russell Cruz, MD, PhD who co-runs GWU's cell-based immunotherapies lab. Dr. Cruz is with the GWU Cancer Center and CNRI’s Center for Cancer and Immunology Research which allowed this teacher to deepen content knowledge on immunology and bioinformatics. Through collaboration with Dr. Cruz, he acquired new skills using biological databases to analyze molecular interactions that are key to developing new therapies for cancers and viral pathogens and was able to engage in workshops where graduate students presented research conducted either using software or in the lab. Due to the pandemic, research was done using Bioinformatics databases, focused on finding cell surface receptor proteins in various pathogens (including COVID-19) which are essential in the attachment and entry to host cells. Throughout the experience, he received constant constructive feedback from his mentor and other graduate students which helped enhance his craft as a scientist, particularly in the areas of viral immunology. He gained valuable content knowledge through class lectures, assigned readings and presentations as well as research skills using various bioinformatic tools. These acquired skills will be translated into the classroom as he teaches a whole unit in immunology. The mentor and his experienced graduate students offered to be guest speakers in his classroom, an opportunity that will enrich and provide fruitful gains in the students’ learning experience.

Geneva Jost spent her time with the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders and worked closely with Dr. Lauren Kenworthy, her team of MRI technologists and psychology staff who perform neuroimaging tests and neurocognitive testing, respectively. Her research was on how autistic boys differ from autistic girls. She spent one full day in the burn clinic to trace and experience a day in the life of clinical psychologists. A large portion of her time was spent observing the many different neurocognitive tests that contribute to the diagnosis of ASD.

Kiana Bennett shared her personal connection with why she chose the topic of sickle cell disease (SCD) and hemoglobin disorders. At Children’s, Ms. Bennett observed SCD infant clinic, transition clinic, did in patient rounds and spent a week in laboratory medicine and the blood bank where she observed and performed blood counts, hemoglobin electrophoresis, attended a blood drive on the blood mobile and followed the process of what happens once a blood unit is drawn with emphasis on molecular blood typing specifically for SCD. Ms. Bennett spent time learning about gene therapy and clinical trial design and was able to spend a week at NIH where she observed adult in and outpatient care including SCD patients post-transplant.

Our first cohort of teachers came from McKinley Technology High School.

Sherry Richardson, worked with Dr. Catherine Limperopoulos in the Developing Brain Research Laboratory. Her research looked at stress levels in pregnant women and its effects on their unborn children.

Melissa Friedman, worked with Dr. Joseph Scafidi, neurologist. Her research looked at mouse models of prematurity and biomarker. She also attended clinical rotations.

Ava researched How social opportunity influence language outcomes in children with critical congenital heart disease with Cyril Jacquot, PhD, MD. She was particularly drawn to developing curricula that would have made STEM more engaging during her own education. Her work showed how environmental factors affected cognitive functions like verbal IQ and phonemic fluency. Through her METEOR experience, Ava learned how to approach scientific research critically, interpreting data and integrating her findings into educational contexts.

Imani spent her time working with Katie Hsiao, PhD researching the impact of genetic variability on cognitive function in Down Syndrome mice, learning valuable research and programming skills. Outside the lab, Imani participated in shadowing medical professionals, attended animal surgeries, and explored neuroscience in practical settings. These experiences fueled her passion for teaching and helped her integrate hands-on learning into her classroom.