Maheetha Bharadwaj
Maheetha pursued a bachelor’s in biology and a master’s in biomedical informatics from Stanford University. At the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University, she searched sequencing and expression data for patterns in tumor suppressors and oncogenes that caused cancer. At Stanford, she studied translational allelic-specific expression in human lymphoblastoid cells. The complexity of the genome fascinated her deeply, and she soon garnered a desire to understand ways in which genome could be modified disease processes. With increasing availability of sequencing data, she hopes to gain the skills to analyze and interpret this data meaningfully for a future of genetics-driven, preventative, personalized medicine. At Cambridge, Maheetha pursued a Masters of Philosophy in Genomic Medicine exploring ways to incorporate sequencing data and technologies directly into patient care delivery. After Cambridge, she hoped to gain concrete experience in personalized genomics. She came across the Papaemmanuil lab at Sloan Kettering during her coursework at the Sanger Institute, and immediately fell in love with the lab’s mission. Currently, Maheetha is working on pipeline development for the Expanded Genomics Program.