At the age of 22, Franziska Michor graduated from her doctorate in evolutionary doctorate at Harvard University.
Ten years later, now aged just 33-years-old, Franziska has won the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science, and an 11 million dollar grant from the National Cancer Institute.
Micro’s research is certainly creating waves for all the right reasons – her unique application of both maths and medicine has brought about new understanding in the way cancer, and cancer treatments, work.
Now a professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard School of Public Health, Michor uses a fusion of both evolutionary biology and quantitative mathematical methods to determine what fuels cancer cells, and how they are affected at different points in their lifecycle by various dosages and treatments.
As she says, “cancer is the body’s fight with rapid evolution within the body.”
Michor’s work is primarily concerned with optimising the schedule and dosages of cancer-treatment drugs, which has thus far achieved major success.
She now hopes to continue her work with cancer treatment programs, and to help “teach maths to medicine” in order to optimise the manner in which modern medicine approaches critical and chronic illnesses.
This story originally appeared on UpWorthy by Parker Molloy
Lead image from the Vilcek Foundation.
