Jessica Flesher, ’13, earned her Honors Bachelor of Science in Biology from Oregon State University. Since graduating, she has pursued a career in medical research and now works as a Dermatology Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Her work centers on creating treatments for people born with large congenital moles while also studying rare types of melanoma. In this Q&A, Jessica looks back on her journey from Oregon State to one of the nation’s leading research institutions, discusses the impact of her work and shares guidance for students interested in science, medicine and research careers.
Q: What are you reading lately?
I’m reading a lot of journal articles, but for fun I’m currently reading The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee and rereading the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. A couple of recent favorite reads are John Green’s Everything is Tuberculosis and Discontinue If Death Ensues by Carol Gyzander, Anna Taborska, Lee Murray, Cindy O’Quinn, and Kyla Lee Ward.
Q: Can you share a little about what you’re doing now?
After graduating from the Honors College, I spent a year volunteering and applying to graduate school. I then started and completed a PhD in Biomedical Sciences at the University of California, Irvine in the Ganesan Lab focused on genes that control hair pigmentation in mouse models. Following graduate school, I moved to Boston for my current postdoc at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Q: What drew you to your current path? Was there a defining moment or influence?
I’ve always known I wanted a career in scientific research. While at OSU, I got my first hands-on experience in many forms of marine biology from tide pool ecology to research on coral bleaching in anemones. The firsthand experiences helped me realize that I wanted to pursue a graduate degree focused on understanding how cells work and what happens when things go wrong rather than more ecology-based research, which was an important step on my current path.
Q: Looking back, what are some of your favorite experiences from your time in the Honors College?
The Honors College facilitated a lot of my favorite academic experiences, from Shakespeare in Ashland to shaking radishes for the Honors Biology laboratory, but helping facilitate an amazing research experience with Dr. Virigina Weis and the support of Honors Faculty like Dr. Indira Rajagopal, Dr. Kevin Ahern, and Eric Hill really helped me grow as a scientist and feel like part of the academic community.
Q: How did the Honors College help prepare you for where you are now?
The honors thesis process helped me dive into academic research, which gave me confidence to repeat the process in graduate school. The colloquia provided an avenue to bounce ideas in smaller classes helping me find my voice when I felt some shyness in larger lectures that built a foundation that I currently use in meetings. Additionally, the colloquia helped me appreciate how different fields can connect back to my own interests from Far Side Entymology and discussing Microbes in the Media to Historical Fiction and Fictional Histories.
Q: What skills, habits, or perspectives from your honors experience do you still use today?
As a postdoc, I’m using research skills, independently driving projects, time management, and sharing information across areas of interest/expertise on a regular basis. But another habit that I developed in the Honors College was saving space for fun pursuits or classes while devoting a large portion of my time on my major focus. I still make time for knitting and reading for fun even with all my research projects and tasks to work on.
Q: What advice would you give current Honors College students as they think about their futures?
Follow the path that interests you, but don’t be afraid if you find something that interests you more. I went into OSU focused on marine biology, but I found a passion for digging into what happens in cells that I ended up following for my graduate and postdoctoral research.
Q: What’s next for you? Any upcoming goals or projects you’re excited about?
My big focus is finishing up my main postdoctoral research project, just need to finish some experiments so I can publish the paper.
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