Where I started
My earliest work in pathology, CRO studies, and preclinical systems made one thing clear: seeing disease is not the same as understanding it. That gap became the engine for everything that followed.
About
Frank Ureña, PhD
MD Candidate | Physician-Scientist
I am building a career as a physician-scientist who can move fluently between mechanistic research, clinical medicine, and the long arc of academic impact.
My path has included pathology, preclinical systems, doctoral work in immunology, postdoctoral research at Harvard and MGH, and ongoing medical training. That sequence has shaped a flexible specialty outlook anchored in one consistent goal: make biomedical research matter more for patients.
Research
10+ yrs
Publications
4 articles
Citations
113
Research Narrative
A physician-scientist path built in sequence.
What I studied
During doctoral training, I focused on microRNA regulation of T-cell proliferation and signaling, asking how immune cells make decisions that later shape inflammation, tolerance, and disease response.
What questions drive me
I am most interested in research that can connect mechanism to consequence: what changes in a cell, why it matters for disease, and how that insight could ultimately improve patient care.
Where I am going
Medical school is not a departure from research. It is the clinical training needed to make the next phase of translational work more relevant, better framed, and more impactful.
Training Arc
Experience that reads as a story, not a list.
2023 - Present
MD Candidate
St. George's University School of Medicine
Grenada and U.S. clinical rotations
Clinical training that keeps future research grounded in real patient questions, real workflows, and real outcome gaps.
- Integrating core rotations across internal medicine, surgery, and subspecialties with a long-term physician-scientist trajectory.
- Using clinical exposure to identify the disease questions most worth translating back to the laboratory.
2022 - 2023
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA
Extended translational training into cancer biology, organoid systems, and the immune microenvironment in human disease models.
- Studied cancer-associated fibroblasts in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and immune integration in alveolar type 2 organoid models.
- Expanded fluency in patient-derived organoids, single-cell approaches, and translational study design relevant to clinically meaningful questions.
2019 - 2023
Graduate Research Assistant and PhD Researcher
John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaiʻi
Honolulu, HI
Built a mechanistic immunology program around microRNA control of T-cell proliferation and signaling.
- Designed and executed studies defining miR-15a/16 regulation of the MEK1-ERK1/2-Elk1 axis in T-cell activation.
- Graduated with a PhD in Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering after connecting molecular insight to broader translational relevance in immune modulation.
2019
Scientific Assistant
Washington State University Gene Editing Core
Pullman, WA
Supported gene-editing workflows that turned experimental questions into tractable biological models.
- Designed CRISPR guide RNAs and supported knockout and knock-in model generation pipelines.
- Contributed to validation and genotyping workflows that improved experimental readiness for downstream studies.
Approach to Medicine and Research
I view medicine as a system that extends beyond individual patient encounters - one that requires integration of research, data, and clinical insight.
My goal is to contribute as a physician-scientist who not only treats disease but helps redefine how we understand and approach it.