The Science Department recently welcomed back one the the Saint Maur graduate from the 1995 class. Dr Vanessa Sancho-Shimizu kindly took on some of her time off visiting relatives in Japan to give a presentation to our Grade 11 Biology students about her work on the study of genetics in order to understand Human health and disease.

After graduating from Saint Maur, Dr Sancho-Shimizu attended McGill University in Montreal, where she obtained her BSc degree. She then moved to Paris to undertake her PhD at the Necker Children Hospital, and upon completion, she relocated to the United Kindgom in 2012 and started her own lab at the prestigious Imperial College in 2014. She and her team are currently working on understanding the Mendelian predispositions to rare childhood infections, specifically: identifying genes underlying childhood herpes simplex encephalitis, severe viral infections, and invasive meningococcal disease.

Our students got a rare chance to connect some of the most advanced elements of the IB curricuum to real-life research and many were truly inspired to see one of their seniors achieving such success after graduating and contributing to understanding and curing human disease. We thank Dr Sancho-Shimuzu for her time and generosity and hope to welcome her back again at Saint Maur very soon.