Anjali Kumari is a junior Biology Pre-Medical student and a Cheatham-White Scholar at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Anjali aspires to pursue a dual degree and become a surgical oncologist. She believes that having interdisciplinary experiences and diverse skillsets will allow her to become a better physician scientist.

She chose this program for its interdisciplinary aspects which enabled her to combine her passion for both, art and research, into one project. She deemed this experience as a crucial refinement of her skills along with understanding the significance of visual communication to convey complex scientific advancements.

Her participation not only led to an artistic creation, but it also afforded her the opportunity to explore new illustration techniques, understand complex research topics, and experiment with mediums that are outside of her comfort zone.

She applied the newly discovered skillsets to compose an art piece which effectively communicated HIV (Human Immunodeficiency virus) and HCV (Hepatitis C Virus) co-infection along with simplifying and condensing prior research done in this field. Anjali worked with Kelsey Pilewski, a PhD student in the Georgiev Lab at Vanderbilt University, to understand the project and its progression. The guidance allowed to design and execute a project representing most concepts conveyed through the research.

Anjali started her project by meeting with Kelsey and discussing the project, its progression, and its applications. She later took this knowledge to create a preliminary draft of the concept. Finally, her draft was critiqued by Kelsey and the program participants for further considerations. During the process, she performed several literature searches to understand the spread of HIV/HCV co-infection and the technology used to study this disease. After multiple rounds of draft production and critiques, Anjali finally came up with a product that demonstrated the spread of the disease, the distinction of the viruses, the awareness of its spread, and the evolution of antibodies that can lead to a potential cure for this co-infection. This project was made possible due to the support that she got from the Lab and the program.

Through this program, Anjali understood the importance of visual communication and discovered techniques to present data to a broader audience. Most importantly, she learned that every skillset matters and gained the confidence that the diversity of her skills can be applied to projects to promote interdisciplinary collaborations and make research more accessible.