Meet Daphney Chery, a GAANN Fellow and PhD Candidate in Biomedical Engineering. Watch Daphney describe how she took advantage of the network of interdisciplinary collaboration in University City, Philadelphia and developed the skills to fulfill her goal to become a full professor at a research institution.

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Daphney Chery

PhD Candidate in Biomedical Engineering
Advisor: Dr. Lin Han

My name is Daphney Chery and I am a PhD candidate at the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems and I am also a US Department of Education iCARE for health care fellow. I conduct innovative and interdisciplinary research here at Drexel University that is impactful across many different fields such as osteoarthritis, nanomechanics, and biomechanics.

I am a member of the Nanobiomechanics Lab here at Drexel University where we investigate biophysics and biomechanics problems of the extracellular matrix. Specifically with my project, I focus on osteoarthritis where I investigate the pericellular matrix, the biochemical structure, and the biomechanics of it as we knock out key proteoglycans and cytokines that are important in the development of cartilage. What I find very exciting about my research is that not only do I get to use the state-of-the-art facilities here at Drexel but I also get to collaborate with many different faculty members and experts at various universities such as UPenn which is right up the street.

I've always had a knack for teaching and I've taught chemistry for a few years at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. I've also found it very important to speak to the youth about the importance of education, specifically in a STEM field, but I've never discovered or knew that I had a love for research until coming to Drexel University where I was surrounded by so many different faculty which guided and supported me and allow me to cultivate my talents. I was empowered to explore and discover and critically think about a biomedical question and start answering it and through my experience here I fell in love with research and have definitely solidified my long-term goal to be a research professor at a research intensive university.

I want to thank the US Department of Education and also the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems for this amazing opportunity to helping me realize my potential and long-term goals.