Vy Le
Vy Le is a junior at Haverford College pursuing a BS in Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry. After graduation, she plans to attend medical school at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, as part of the Penn PASS linkage program. As a first-generation low-income student who immigrated from Vietnam, she’s passionate about advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion in historically inaccessible spaces such as healthcare. Her focus lies in addressing socioeconomic and racial disparities in healthcare, with an overall goal of making it more equitable.
As a SUMR scholar, Le is involved in two projects. Under the mentorship of Dr. Heather Burris, she helps with study enrollment for the “Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes” (ECHO) project and conducts participant follow-up visits. Additionally, under the guidance of Dr. Tim Nelin Le takes on an active role in patient recruitment, study enrollment, interviewing, and data analysis on the “Caregiver Perceptions of the Environmental Contributions to Preterm Infant Health” project.
At Haverford College, Le serves as an academic STEM peer coach, guiding underrepresented students through the institution’s rigorous STEM curriculum. As a Student Leader in the John P. Chesick Scholarship program, she mentors fellow first-generation low-income students. In addition, she helps first-years acclimate to college academics through her role as a Peer Academic Facilitator in Haverford’s year-long orientation program.
Aside from academics, she’s a varsity field hockey player, co-founder of Inclusive Lifting Club, and served two terms on Students’ Council as Officer of Athletics. Le works in the Charkoudian Lab at Haverford College where she explores protein interactions within Type II Polyketide Synthases that are capable of producing medicinally relevant molecules.
In her free time, she enjoys lifting weights and cooking!