Yasemin Cole ’16 was recently selected as one of four overseas students out of over 700 applicants to be the recipient of The Dean’s Master’s Scholarship at Imperial College London. The Scholarship covers full tuition fees and a £17,500 year stipend. With support of the scholarship, Yasemin will be completing a MSc in Genomic Medicine. As part of this master’s program, she will be conducting cancer research with Professor Anne Bowcock, who was involved in searching for BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer genes.
Each year the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London grants a full tuition, fees, and stipend support to 9 students for one year of graduate study at the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London). Five of the recipients are selected from EU countries. Four of the recipients are selected from overseas countries such as the US. Candidates are expected to provide evidence of outstanding academic ability. This usually means being amongst the highest achievers in their undergraduate cohort and in receipt of, or due to receive, a first class UK Honors degree or equivalent.
Yasemin Cole was born in Raleigh, N.C. and graduated with high distinction and honors from UNC in May 2016. She obtained a major in Biology and minor in Chemistry and Medical Anthropology. During high school, her passion for research developed after she interned at Nobel Prize winner Professor Aziz Sancar’s lab. This led her to work multiple summers as an Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) fellow at National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Her research work at NIEHS led to her co-authorship of the scientific article on Glis3, which was published in PLOS ONE journal. As an undergraduate she also completed a senior honors thesis on her research in the Cook Lab at UNC, where she is currently working.
As an undergraduate, she received multiple awards and recognitions including Honors Carolina Program, Carolina Research Scholars Program, Student Undergraduate Teaching Award – Chancellor’s Award, and Buckley Public Service Scholar. She became a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 2015, and served as Office of Undergraduate Research Ambassador. She was also an active student at UNC as President of Carolina Premedical Association, Advocacy Coordinator in UNC Partners in Health Engage, and a UNC Hospital volunteer (for over 4 years).
In 2012, she co-wrote and illustrated a children’s book about overcoming limitations “The Tail of Disperato”, which is translated to Turkish “Derin’in Hikayesi”. Ten thousand copies were printed and distributed by a non-profit organization to schools in disadvantaged areas of Turkey.
Yasemin aspires to become a physician scientist, translating cancer research from the bench to the bedside. In this capacity, she hopes to contribute to the cancer field by developing personalized cancer therapies for cancer patients.
“I am very appreciative of the academic rigor and support UNC provided me as an undergraduate. My four years at UNC has instilled in me the values of service, scientific inquiry, and scholarship that are at the heart of Carolina. My experiences at UNC will provide me the foundation to become a successful physician scientist,” said Yasemin.
The Dean’s Master’s Scholarship website:
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/study/postgraduate/deans-masters-scholarships/
