KEYS Research Internship inspires BME student to work with American Cancer Society

A high school student involved in high-level neuroimaging is not a common occurrence, but that's exactly what Moses Foiryolo did at 18. 

In 2021, when Foiryolo was a junior at Sahuaro High School in Tucson, he learned about the KEYS Research Internship offered by the University of Arizona's BIO5 Institute. The decision to join opened a whole new world of research to Foiryolo, who is now working with the American Cancer Society doing a post-baccalaureate program. 

"Prior to the program, the entire idea of a scientist was just limited to what I saw on television. Also, it's not really a thing back in my country, Liberia," Foiryolo said. 

As part of the KEYS program, he was matched into the lab of Elizabeth Hutchinson, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. 

"As a high school student, reading research papers was just daunting," he said. 

But Hutchinson and other KEYS mentors gave Foiryolo the required resources and support to get him acclimatized to his new environment. 

The experience at KEYS helped Foiryolo think critically and made him more comfortable reading and interpreting scientific literature early in his research career. 

"I developed that independence in research because of my time in KEYS," Foiryolo said. "I learned how to troubleshoot and solve things on my own."