Meet a Scholar: Jalen Benson '17

My name is Jalen Benson and I am a Biology major from Pensacola, Florida. Coming to Dartmouth was exciting but also a huge jump for me. I am the first in my family to go to college and unlike many of my peers in the sciences, I didn't have any idea what research was, before Dartmouth. I had never met anyone who had a PhD and I spent my summers in high school working in a warehouse. I volunteered in a lab my freshman year, but it really wasn't the experience I was looking for. I had an interest in cardiology but every lab that I emailed that did research in cardiology wanted someone with previous lab experience.

Fortunately, I become a member of the EE Just program my freshman year. At one of the events I heard Dr. Elaina Melton give a talk about her research and her journey in science. She did research in atherosclerosis and was willing to give me a chance to do research under her. Elaina is a Post-Doctoral fellow in Dr. T.Y. Chang's Lab in the Department of Biochemistry at Geisel. I completely fell in love with the work I did in that lab and I have worked in the lab every term since, even spending an off term with her doing full-time research. Through the E.E. Just program I also met Dr. Andrea Hayes-Jordan D' 87 G'91. She is a researcher and pediatric oncology surgeon at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. E.E. Just supported me in spending an off term doing research with her during my junior year. After these experiences, I am going to pursue further research at Stanford Medical School for 2 years after graduation before applying to MD-PhD programs. 

I am also past co-chair of cabin and trail, a pre-health mentor, a FYSEP mentor, a SEAD mentor, an executive member of Dartmouth Roots, Director of the Dartmouth Fifty and an administrative assistant in pediatrics at DHMC. I attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students this past November and won an award in biochemistry. In the future, I hope to continue to blend medicine and research.