Project title: Elements of Individuality: The Intersection of Art and Personalized Medicine
Project description: Pharmaceutical scientists have attempted to mediate polypharmacy with personalized medicine, which is the tailoring of medication to a patient’s individual genome and state of health. While this medical approach to individualization is new, art is historically and inherently individual. Art and personalized medicine have a common communication model: a creator incorporates concrete features of individuality in their work, which the receiver processes based on their own individuality. When artists create, their personal identities manifest in their pieces, which receivers, informed by their own personhood, interpret. Similarly, personalized medicine involves a pharmaceutical chemist manipulating a drug for a unique genome. Therefore, using this common framework, we ask: how can the individualization of art rhetorically apply to the customization of genomic medicine? Personalized medicine is fairly novel; therefore, by studying a subjective—and importantly, well-evidenced—medium of expression such as art, the pharmaceutical industry may use this unconventional field as a reference for individualization. My research has two stages; first, I will identify discrete ways individuality appears in art (e.g. color, rhythm, texture) and influences its interpretation through literature review, interviews with artists, and polls of audience members; next, I will identify modifiable elements of drugs (e.g. structure, polarity, stereochemistry) and analogue them to the individualistic elements of art. Expected findings include specific, tangible representations of individuality that creators can manipulate to both hone their artistic message and improve personalized medication. This research will potentially assist in the development of medicine customized to individual patients, which will not only ameliorate the polypharmacy crisis, but will also revolutionize personalized healthcare.
Most important achievement: I had the honor of competing nationally at the American Forensic Association National Speech Tournament for two years in a row, where I was able to advocate for the causes I care deeply about.
Reflections on the College Scholar Program: As a College Scholar, I am afforded the unique opportunity to pursue all my interdisciplinary interests in a single project while honing critical research and writing skills. When I began my studies at Cornell, I was worried I would not be able to sufficiently explore my seemingly-unrelated academic interests. However, through the College Scholar Program, I have found a fascinating overlap, as well as the other incredibly passionate individuals that I look forward to working with during the rest of my academic career.