Ariella Hollander hard at work in the lab at Albert Einstein College.
August 14, 2008
Forgoing the beach in order to swim in what she calls “the whole scientific sea,” West Orange resident and aspiring physician Ariella Hollander spent the summer immersed in research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.
Hollander, a senior honors student at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women in Manhattan, was one of 11 YU students taking part in programs at Einstein. As a Roth scholar, she has been working in the lab of Dr. Marion Schmidt in Einstein’s biochemistry department.
The scholarship, sponsored by the Ernst and Hedwig Roth Institute of Biomedical Science Education at Yeshiva University, provides each student with a stipend and campus housing and pairs them up with different scientists to work alongside graduate and postdoctoral students.
“I’m thankful to Yeshiva University for having this program and enabling me to really have this experience,” said Hollander, who is majoring in biology. “A lot of medical schools are interested in people who have conducted some sort of research.”
But the program was about much more than building a resume, she said.
“It opens your mind to different opportunities that are out there and helps you fortify your ultimate career decision.”
‘Judaism prides itself on pikuah nefesh, and being a doctor is one of the best ways of going about that.’
Over the course of the program, Hollander conducted research on what causes aging by mutating different yeast cell strains. On Aug. 7, the last day of the program, she presented the findings of her research along with the eight other Roth scholars and two University Summer Scholars.
“Specific genes do alter the longevity of the strains,” Hollander said, but, she joked, “I haven’t really solved cancer.”
The program was not all work and no play; the program included field trips and guest speakers.
Although she thoroughly enjoyed working in the lab, Hollander said, she prefers working with people and the clinical aspects of medicine, something she discovered firsthand when she participated in the Emergency Room Mentor Program at Morristown Memorial Hospital last summer.
“I’m still interested in medicine,” Hollander said. “Judaism prides itself on pikuah nefesh [saving a life], and being a doctor is one of the best ways of going about that.”
For now, Hollander is enjoying the end of her vacation before she starts her honors thesis and begins applying to medical school.
Hollander is the daughter of Nathan and Yaffa Hollander and a member of Congregation Ahawas Achim B’nai Jacob and David in West Orange. She was president of the Biology Club at Stern and is a volunteer for New York Cares, a nonprofit volunteer organization that serves New York City.
Hollander said she has come to appreciate how an individual’s research is just “one tiny drop in the whole scientific sea.”
“There are so many things that are out there to discover and explore,” Hollander said. “You just add your little drop, your piece to the puzzle.”
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