Vera Ong
Vera Ong first started doing neurosurgical research in high school, conducting a literature review on treating glioblastoma with nanotechnology. Upon starting her undergraduate studies at UCLA, she found one of the labs mentioned in her review—Dr. Isaac Yang’s neurosurgical tumor research lab and has been involved in Dr. Yang’s lab for over 7 years. In 2020, she graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Psychobiology and was one of ten out-of-state students accepted into the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi. She was awarded the Hiromu Matsumoto Scholarship upon acceptance. She received the Carolyn Kuckein AΩA Research Fellowship, evaluating EMP2 as a biomarker and therapeutic agent for meningiomas, and was elected president of the Gold Humanism Honor Society for her class cohort.
She also spent some time at Dr. Manish Aghi’s lab in UCSF, studying the relationship between neutrophils and glioblastoma growth, CRISPERi and GBM cell invasion, and drug-mediated T-cell attraction for medulloblastoma treatment. She has over 30 peer-reviewed neurosurgical publications with topics ranging from tumor, vascular, functional, and spine.
Even though her schedule may get busy, she strives to make time for her family and friends, volleyball open gyms, karaoke nights, running, and journaling.
Education:
MEDICAL SCHOOL
John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi (7/2020-5/2024)
UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES
University of California, Los Angeles (8/2016-5/2020)
Psychobiology, BS
Program completion year:
2031
Honors & Awards:
- Po`okela No`eau Award: to recognize the student with characteristics which best exemplify the qualities of the ideal physician. Recipient selected by class vote (2024)
- Gold Humanism Honor Society President (2024)
- Editor-in-Chief for Mauli, JABSOM’s first literature journal (https://osa.jabsom.hawaii.edu/mauli/issue-3/, 2020-2024)
- Published as a first author in Neurosurgery and featured on the CNS Neurosurgery On the Go YouTube Channel to discuss gender-based disparities within academic productivity seen within neurosurgical residency programs (https://youtu.be/1E7PAykiD9Y?si=RIlWKfdH_Vk2RAQa, 2023)
- Carolyn L. Kuckein AΩA Student Research Fellowship (2022-2023)
- Epithelial Membrane Protein-2 as a Biomarker and Therapeutic Target for Meningiomas
- Gold Humanism Honor Society Essay Competition (2021)
- Hiromu Matsumoto Scholarship in Honor of Dr. Windsor Cutting (2020-2024)
- UCLA Undergraduate Research Scholar
- UCLA College Honors (2020)
- UCLA Summa Cum Laude Honors (2020)
- Stuart C. Waugh and Scott L. Waugh Scholar (2019)
- Global Health Case Competition Top 3rd Finalist
- Association of Pacific Rim Universities, Role: Team Captain (2019)
- Top Neurotrauma Poster at Congress of Neurological Surgeons Conference (2018)
- 1st place UCLA Library Prize for Undergraduate Researchers (2018)
- 2nd place American Physician Scientists Association Poster Competition (2017)
- UCLA Dean’s Honors List (2016-2020)
Publications:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=vera+ong