Illinois Fulbright Scholar Excels at University of Sydney
Article by Elizabeth Heath – University of Sydney
It stands to reason that any Fulbright scholar is going to be something of a brainiac and a go-getter. In Lauretta Lacko’s case, she’s won a ton of awards including something called the Bronze Tablet a tradition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1925.
Basically it means you’re in the top three percent of your graduating class. Lauretta, who prefers Laurie, has also added her name to the Dean List, and won an alarming number of scholarships. On top of all that, she’s done something not too many American students do – she’s studied overseas a lot, in South Africa, Taiwan and Denmark. And on the latest leg of her flittering academic career, she has landed in Sydney.
“A professor approached me about the Fulbright because he knew I was really interested in traveling, and enjoyed learning about different cultures,” Laurie says.
She will be carrying out biomedical research at Westmead Hospital. “It’s an independent, flexible program,” Laurie says. “It’s more of a mutual exchange – we both benefit from me being here.”
Laurie was attracted to Sydney by the work of Christine Clarke at the millennium Institute. “I heard about it through one of my professors at Illinois. The millennium Institute cancer research program is very well recognized and does a lot of great research – it’s the only lab in the world that has a three dimensional model of the human breast that can respond to progesterone.
“They have a lot of techniques they have developed that are not widely used but they are very good at. They are the forerunners in this area. So there was a lot of appeal in that,” Laurie says.
Professor Clarke works in the Department of medicine at Westmead Millennium Institute, and is a National Health and Medical Research Council principal research fellow. She also heads the Sydney West Area Health Service Translational Oncology Unit, and leads the Breast Cancer Tissue Bank that collects breast cancer tissues and clinical information and makes these available to researchers around the country.
Laurie has joined Professor Clarke’s small team of postdoctoral researchers, postgraduate students and research staff. “It’s a really good experience to see how different labs are run,” says Laurie. “You get a different perspective on how research is carried out. Here there is a much more communal atmosphere than in the States. People are really bouncing ideas off each other every chance they get. At home, we don’t have that constant back-and-forth.”
Dr. J. Dinny Graham, Laurie’s research co-supervisor and postdoctoral fellow in the research group, says Laurie is working out “brilliantly.” “She’s terrific. She’s fitting in very, very well with our team. Laurie is extremely well traveled already, so she has brought with her those experiences, and I think that really broadens the perspectives for the more junior people in the group.
“And the undergraduate system in the USA is really quite different to our system, so that’s very interesting for the people in our group as well.”
Laurie is the first of two 2008 American Fulbright Scholars to arrive at the University. She will spend twelve months in Sydney researching how progesterone acts and potentially increases the risk of breast cancer. The second Fulbright Scholar is Dr. Charles Helms from the University of Iowa, who will be researching the impact of the policy of mandatory HCW vaccination implemented in NSW.
The Fulbright program has a long and distinguished history in Australia, being the first-ever treaty signed between Australia and the US. The program was created by Senator J. William Fulbright and the US Government in 1946, and aims to promote mutual understanding through educational exchange. Lauretta is one of 20 American Fulbright Scholars traveling to Australia in 2008/09.
Article by Elizabeth Heath – University of Sydney
It stands to reason that any Fulbright scholar is going to be something of a brainiac and a go-getter. In Lauretta Lacko’s case, she’s won a ton of awards including something called the Bronze Tablet a tradition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1925.
Basically it means you’re in the top three percent of your graduating class. Lauretta, who prefers Laurie, has also added her name to the Dean List, and won an alarming number of scholarships. On top of all that, she’s done something not too many American students do – she’s studied overseas a lot, in South Africa, Taiwan and Denmark. And on the latest leg of her flittering academic career, she has landed in Sydney.
“A professor approached me about the Fulbright because he knew I was really interested in traveling, and enjoyed learning about different cultures,” Laurie says.
She will be carrying out biomedical research at Westmead Hospital. “It’s an independent, flexible program,” Laurie says. “It’s more of a mutual exchange – we both benefit from me being here.”
Laurie was attracted to Sydney by the work of Christine Clarke at the millennium Institute. “I heard about it through one of my professors at Illinois. The millennium Institute cancer research program is very well recognized and does a lot of great research – it’s the only lab in the world that has a three dimensional model of the human breast that can respond to progesterone.
“They have a lot of techniques they have developed that are not widely used but they are very good at. They are the forerunners in this area. So there was a lot of appeal in that,” Laurie says.
Professor Clarke works in the Department of medicine at Westmead Millennium Institute, and is a National Health and Medical Research Council principal research fellow. She also heads the Sydney West Area Health Service Translational Oncology Unit, and leads the Breast Cancer Tissue Bank that collects breast cancer tissues and clinical information and makes these available to researchers around the country.
Laurie has joined Professor Clarke’s small team of postdoctoral researchers, postgraduate students and research staff. “It’s a really good experience to see how different labs are run,” says Laurie. “You get a different perspective on how research is carried out. Here there is a much more communal atmosphere than in the States. People are really bouncing ideas off each other every chance they get. At home, we don’t have that constant back-and-forth.”
Dr. J. Dinny Graham, Laurie’s research co-supervisor and postdoctoral fellow in the research group, says Laurie is working out “brilliantly.” “She’s terrific. She’s fitting in very, very well with our team. Laurie is extremely well traveled already, so she has brought with her those experiences, and I think that really broadens the perspectives for the more junior people in the group.
“And the undergraduate system in the USA is really quite different to our system, so that’s very interesting for the people in our group as well.”
Laurie is the first of two 2008 American Fulbright Scholars to arrive at the University. She will spend twelve months in Sydney researching how progesterone acts and potentially increases the risk of breast cancer. The second Fulbright Scholar is Dr. Charles Helms from the University of Iowa, who will be researching the impact of the policy of mandatory HCW vaccination implemented in NSW.
The Fulbright program has a long and distinguished history in Australia, being the first-ever treaty signed between Australia and the US. The program was created by Senator J. William Fulbright and the US Government in 1946, and aims to promote mutual understanding through educational exchange. Lauretta is one of 20 American Fulbright Scholars traveling to Australia in 2008/09.
