The Minnesota Chapter celebrated the 9th annual Scholar Award Event at the newly re-opened Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus. 

It was a beautiful venue to celebrate this year's Scholars: 

• Nicholas Heller - Computer Science
• Fredarla (Freddie) Miller - Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
• Elizabeth (Lizzy) Crist - Biomedical Engineering
• Colette Rogers - Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics

Our keynote speaker was Anja Bielinsky PhD, professor of Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota, who spoke on Personalized Medicine: How Did We Get Here and Where are We Going?

Professor Bielinsky discussed how personalized medicine has the potential to change the way we think about, identify and manage health problems. It was exciting to hear about the impact personlaized medicine is already having on both clinical research and patient care. This impact will only grow as our understanding and technologies improve. Personalized medicine affects all diseases that can be linked to a genetic defect (e.g., cancer, neurological disorders, muscular dystrophies and heart disease) and will revolutionize the practice of medicine as we know it.

All-in-all it was a fun evening of learning, networking and getting to know these amazing students!