Kassidy cares deeply about social justice, community service, and gender equity.

Kassidy Jungles is a PhD candidate in the School of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan specializing in radiation oncology. Kassidy’s passion for biology drove her to conduct laboratory research as a first-generation undergraduate at the Saint Mary’s College of Notre Dame. Her participation in the Michigan Summer Research Opportunities Program first inspired her interest in pharmacology specifically. Kassidy then completed her undergraduate thesis on a small molecule inhibitor in metastatic epithelial ovarian cancer, and she graduated with honors in 2020.

Her current doctoral work advances novel therapeutic approaches to improve treatment options for breast cancer patients. Specifically, she focuses on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive form of breast cancer that disproportionately affects young women of color. Her project, supported by the prestigious Pharmacological Sciences Training Program T32 Fellowship, explores the potential of mitotic inhibitors, a type of chemotherapy drug that limits cell division. Her goal is to enhance the efficacy of radiotherapy and immunotherapy in treating TNBC in order to improve patient outcomes.

Alongside her primary research interests, Kassidy cares deeply about social justice, community service, and gender equity. Her minor in gender studies has provided her with a valuable perspective that she applies to her research. Currently, she plans to undertake a research project focusing on addressing racial healthcare disparities in female breast cancer patient care. Additionally, she has promoted women and other underserved populations in STEM through various organizations in the U-M and southeastern Michigan community, including as a youth literacy mentor at the Detroit Boxing Gym’s Center for Success, a volunteer for the Wolverine Pathways to Pharmacology program, and the director of communications for cataLIST (Ladies in Science and Technology). Finally, Kassidy was recently selected as an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program Outstanding Research Mentor, attesting to her exceptional commitment to mentorship. 

CEW+ applauds Kassidy’s vital work and names her a Riecker Graduate Student Research Fellow.