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Mid-year Report of Vani Verma
I finished all my exams, and have passed them as well! So far, I have taken both of the core modules for my program, learning the basics of Cancer Biology and Cancer Therapeutics. Cancer Biology was a review of a lot of undergraduate content, which I appreciated as it made sure we all had a good foundation of knowledge necessary for our research projects. Cancer Therapeutics was an extremely interesting module, where we learned about the different current treatments for various types of cancer. Most of our lectures were given by clinicians at UCL, who treat patients with the new technologies they presented, and have experience with all treatments for the cancer they specialize in. So far, this program has been an amazing opportunity that is really teaching me so much about disease prevention, and I am so grateful to everyone at Rotary who has enabled me. This semester I am taking Behavioural Science of Cancer and Cancer Immunology. These courses are analyzing how to effectively educate communities about cancer prevention and screening, and the idea of cancer vaccines and antibody treatments. These both are what I was originally interested in, so I am looking forward to the rest of my classes this semester.
Outside of the classroom, I have been meeting the most inspiring people. I started volunteering weekly at a soup kitchen, and also joined the Zero Food Waste organization at UCL, where I help redistribute surplus food from the UCL cafes to homeless shelters nearby. I chose these two opportunities because I pass so many homeless people during my daily life, specifically near the hospital building where many of my classes are held. Seeing this on a daily basis reminds me of how fortunate I am, but also of the importance of giving back to others and developing strong communities. I also joined the UCL Running Group and Equestrian Team, which have been a great way to make friends! Naturally, I saved the best for last: Rotary! I am being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bush Hill Park, and I have been assigned the Russell family as my sponsors. Mr. Ernie and Mrs. Stella have been so helpful and kind. They offered to pick me up from the airport when I first arrived, have taken me out to lunch, and help transport me to any Rotary events I cannot reach with public transport! In early December, I went to their house to help them organize all of their Rotary stuff, and they had an entire room full of Rotary items - it was impressive! There are about thirty Rotary Global Grant scholars living in London, which has been a wonderful community! I met them at an induction meeting we had in October, where we discussed expectations and administrative information about the next year. We then were all invited to the district conference in Eastbourne, a seaside town in England. Most of us chose to attend the conference, which lasted Thursday - Sunday. It was really interesting and the most Rotarians I have ever seen in one place! I also have attended a couple Rotary meetings with my host club, which are run very differently than the Montgomery meetings I have attended! I am really excited for some of the Rotary volunteer opportunities this upcoming semester: the upcoming one is a Valentines Gala for the elderly community that is at-risk for loneliness, which I hopefully will be able to help set up. Overall, I am really excited for the rest of my year in London, and am especially looking forward to making progress on my research project, which I will update you on once I have more information. Thank you for making this possible, and please let me know if you have any questions or would like more information about anything specific!
Best,
Vani Verma
2LT, US Army
University College London
