Karissa Cerda.
Karissa Cerda.

St. Olaf Grad Joins Mayo Clinic, Contributes to NIH Program

Fall 2020 | Chicago

Karissa Cerda, a recent St. Olaf College Posse graduate, has already made great strides in her first full-time job as a biorepository lab technician for the Mayo Clinic in Chicago.

Karissa’s technician responsibilities include processing the blood samples that lie at the core of Mayo Clinic research studies for personalized medicine. Her role is informing work to increase the efficacy of drugs, toxicity screenings, drug discovery, and cell replacement therapy.

Karissa credits her time at St. Olaf—in particular her Posse mentor, Dr. Diane Angell—with helping her get a toehold in the physical sciences as an undergraduate. Dr. Angell, a biology professor, offered Karissa a critical opportunity to become a teacher’s assistant for her introductory biology courses.

Karissa credits her time at St. Olaf—in particular her Posse mentor, Dr. Diane Angell—with helping her get a toehold in the physical sciences.

“She definitely walked me up the ladder, and made me feel worthy, validated, deserving,” Karissa says.

It was important validation for Karissa, who recalls feeling daunted in her first science classes, overwhelmed by the amount of preparation needed to succeed.

“In my first STEM class, I realized that these kids have been prepared for so long,” Karissa says, noting that her own high school experience often felt lacking compared to classmates. “They were saying things like, ‘easiest test I’ve ever taken.’ It’s hard to pick yourself up at times.”

Karissa completed her St. Olaf coursework while working at the local pizzeria and playing on the rugby team. She earned enough credits to graduate a semester early this past December and began work at the Mayo Clinic in February.

Karissa is inspired that her role works within the All of Us Research Program, a system facilitated by the National Institutes of Health and over 100 clinical partners including Mayo Clinic to create an extensive, diverse database of DNA. The project aims to gather data from one million or more people from across the U.S., with the goal of accelerating research and improving health services.

This spring, she was invited to be a member of the Center of Individualized Medicine’s diversity and inclusion committee, and was proud to contribute to the program’s public statements about George Floyd.

“My supervisors and other bosses have made me feel extremely welcomed,” Karissa says of her time at the Mayo Clinic so far. “They have made space for me.”