Michelle went to the University of Connecticut for her B.S. in Physiology & Neurobiology. Michelle’s close friend and family member was diagnosed with recurrent sarcoma during college, which inspired Michelle to spend more time learning about sarcoma and trying to find ways she might make any difference for patients suffering with this malignancy. After graduating, Michelle went to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, where she had an internship for a few months until she was hired to work as a research assistant in the sarcoma research laboratory of Dr. Keila Torres. After two years, Michelle went to medical school at the University of South Florida, where she continued to perform research, but with a focus on bioinformatics in the laboratory of Dr. George Blanck. Michelle applied her team’s research techniques to sarcoma wherever possible. Michelle is on and accelerate research residency trach through the PEDsSDP program and plans to complete a fellowship in pediatric oncology. She will conduct her sarcoma-based research in the Bailey laboratory.