Sangita Chakraborty is a recent graduate of Hunter College, where she earned a dual degree in Biological Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies with a minor in Public Policy. Born in Bangladesh, Sangita immigrated to Queens, New York with her family when she was four years old. After losing an aunt to cancer when she was in high school, she set out to pursue a career in cancer research as a physician-scientist. For her, the motivation was both personal and intellectual.

As a SPARK Scholar, Sangita will join the lab of Lydia Finley, PhD (Damon Runyon Fellow ’13-’17, Dale Frey Breakthrough Scientist ’17-’19) at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she will study how cellular metabolic pathways regulate cell differentiation in stem cells and cancer cells. A mentor herself to elementary and middle school students throughout New York City public schools, she knows how transformative the mentor-mentee relationship can be.