esther.y.c@mail.utexas.edu
Pharmacy School student, University of Texas College of Pharmacy
As a pharmacy school student, I worked in Dr. Gore’s lab on my Honors Thesis. In pharmacy school I am President of Kappa Epsilon (a professional pharmacy fraternity) and an active member in Rho Chi (pharmacy honors society), Student Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists, and Academy of Student Pharmacists. Outside of school, I work at Walgreens as a pharmacy intern. I also spent my undergraduate years at UT in the Dean’s Scholars Honors Program.
My research focused on the effects of prenatal exposure to contraceptive hormones on hormone receptors in the brain. Hormonal oral contraceptives are among the most popular and effective forms of contraception in the US, and the large majority of formulations contain 17-a ethinyl estradiol (EE). Because of human error there is a 5% chance of unintended pregnancy during the first year of use, which can result in oral contraceptive use continuing through the first trimester. My project investigated the effects of exogenously administered EE during pregnancy on estrogen receptor a (ERa in the brains of exposed newborn offspring. Specifically, I focused on effects on ERa expression in the hypothalamus using immunohistochemistry.
Honors:
- University of Texas, Undergraduate Research Fellowship, 2007