Diana Dinh

2022 Fulbright U.S. Student Program Grantee

Hometown

Beavercreek, OH

Major

Biological Sciences; Chemistry; French

College

College of Liberal Arts

 

Diana has accepted a Fulbright award to conduct medical sciences research in Villejuif, France. While there, Diana will partner with researchers at the world-renowned Institut Gustave Roussy, which ranks among the top 5 oncology hospitals in the world. Diana will be investigating the adverse effects that antibiotic use might have on the treatment of patients undergoing cancer immunotherapy. In particular, Diana seeks to understand how microbiota in the gut might be harnessed and manipulated to mitigate antibiotic interference and enhance the success rates of biological therapies. It is a project for which Diana is well prepared, given her work as a Pharmaceutical Sciences major at Purdue, with minors in biological sciences and chemistry. The project will further prepare Diana to excel in her future studies and career in immunology, which she plans to focus on cancer therapies. These plans embody Diana’s commitment to utilizing underappreciated mechanisms of the body to treat diseases, namely cancer.

 

As a Fulbrighter, Diana will join a prestigious scholarly and cultural community bound together by a shared dedication to forging mutual understanding across boundaries of culture and nation. Diana’s third minor of French has equipped her with the advanced language skills necessary to not only excel in her chosen lab but to immerse herself fully in her community of Villejuif and nearby Paris. In her free time, Diana will continue her commitment to her Vietnamese heritage while exercising her French language skills to learn more about the intersections between Vietnamese and French culture, given Vietnam’s former status as a French colony. Diana is particularly excited to explore the fusion of Vietnamese and French cuisine, including through cooking lessons.