Transforming Research: A Young Scientist Forges Her Path

(Photo: Allen McInnnis)

Six years ago, Jessica Nichol was a summer student working in Dr. Wilson Miller’s lab at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital. “As soon as I started, I knew I belonged here,” Nichol says. Shortly after, she began her MSc at McGill and continued her work in Dr. Miller’s lab, studying mechanisms of resistance in leukemia to better understand and treat the disease.

In June 2008, Nichol received a Cole Foundation Fellowship, an honour which “gave me extra confidence” to make the switch up to doctoral studies. As well as funding her salary at the lab, the fellowship provides travel assistance. Earlier this year, Nichol attended a major conference on cancer research in Ireland. “It was energizing. I presented my research poster, I met some amazing scientists, and I loved Ireland.”

The fellowship will also give her a decided leg-up with securing future funding.

And last but certainly not least, Nichol says she is “very grateful to not be burdened with debt."