Samantha Yee

Hi everyone, I’m a Ph.D candidate in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in the Physiology & Pharmacology discipline. I am starting my 4th year and time really does fly by. My research focuses on improving treatment for ovarian cancer. Majority of patients acquire drug resistance after initial treatment, and I want to identify optimal treatments for ovarian cancer patients while better understanding mechanisms associated with drug resistance. 

I first considered conducting ovarian cancer research as a career when I was in my senior year of high school. I had always wanted to become a teacher, as I had wonderful role models who are teachers, such as my high school track and field coach, Mr. Kelly, and biology teacher, Mrs. Hossie. Growing up in Canada, I was a multi-sport athlete. At the start of my senior year of high school, I felt fatigued all the time. During basketball season in the fall, I began to notice sharp abdominal pains. After several trips to various hospitals, I was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst. In order to determine whether the solid mass was malignant or benign, the course of action was to undergo a laparoscopic surgery for an ovarian cyst removal at the end of my senior year. The decision for surgical excision was tough. I was a track and field athlete and staying healthy during senior year was crucial to enhance my probability to become a student-athlete at the collegiate level in the US. We decided to have the laparoscopic operation at the end of the year, so I could still compete during track and field season and participate in all the sports my senior year. As a result, I ended up going to prom and commencement with fresh incisions and on pain medication. Fortunately enough, my valedictorian address went well although I was on pain medication. 

After high school, I ran track for a D3 program in Upstate NY at St. Lawrence University. I was always afraid of the little pains I felt while strength training leading up to my freshwoman year, but I fought hard to keep my spot on the team by maintaining performance and stuck to a strict training plan. During the second half of college, I became more serious about research and ended my collegiate track career. During my summer prior to my senior year, I was awarded a fellowship to conduct research on campus for 10 weeks. The fellowship experience really solidified my love for research while I was under the guidance of Dr. Alexander Schreiber. Following St. Lawrence University, I worked as a research assistant at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, in the Tagliabracci Lab, of which Dr. Tagliabracci also happened to be Canadian. Our connection was immediate and we bonded over our mutual love of hockey. 

At the end of my first year, my boss and some of our lab members, as well as other faculty members from UT Southwestern, went to a Dallas Stars game together as lab bonding.  A promotional video during one of the intermissions popped up on the jumbotron that asked “Do you want to be a Dallas Stars Ice Girl?” My boss pushed me to give it a go and I decided to give it a shot. Approximately 100 women auditioned to be a professional cheerleader for the Dallas Stars. The ice skating skills I nurtured growing up in Canada turned out to be incredibly valuable and being able to improvise under pressure certainly did its part. I also grew up dancing, so my versatile background definitely helped while auditioning. After a long training camp of bootcamp, learning dance tags, and intense ice training (pushing skating coaches down the ice as they stood on the hockey nets), the director of the Dallas Stars Ice Girls surprised me and the team on my birthday by revealing the good news that we all made the team. 

The Dallas Stars Ice Girls exposed me to strong, beautiful, independent, and intelligent women from different backgrounds and I built many relationships there that are still strong today. I am forever humbled and grateful to have the invaluable opportunity of being a member of the Ice Girls for a year, while also conducting research full time at UT Southwestern. I will certainly never forget all the wonderful memories, including being a STEM representative at various events sharing my experiences with elementary and high school students in Dallas. It was bittersweet leaving my Dallas family, but my passion to conduct cancer research was calling as I was accepted into the Integrated Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. Program at UT Health San Antonio Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.  

My time in San Antonio has really helped me grow as more than just a researcher. One of my favorite pastimes has been being involved in the Student Government Association first serving as a representative, Secretary, then Treasurer, and now as the President. If documented correctly, I am the first woman and woman of color to be president. I’m proud and grateful that we have the ability to voice our concerns as a student body to the administration, as we are fortunate to have such a great working relationship to ensure that trainees have a collaborative and positive learning environment. Some initiatives are having free menstrual hygiene products on campus and creating a scholarship fund for students. It has truly been an honor to be a part of it all while pursuing my Ph.D.

Story: John Kouam, Photos: Sujaan Lal

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