A Thomasville native has spent her summer in the lab, working alongside faculty researchers at the University of South Alabama’s Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine.
Ashley Ballard recently completed an eight-week undergraduate summer research program that gives aspiring scientists hands-on laboratory experience under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Ballard was mentored by Dr. Chandrani Sarkar, Ph.D., and studied mechanisms that may contribute to the progression of colon cancer.
Ballard is the daughter of Jennifer and Neil Ballard of Thomasville. She was valedictorian of her senior class at Clarke Prep and was named the 2024 Clarke County Distinguished Young Woman.
The intensive summer program is designed to expose undergraduate students to biomedical research early in their academic careers, pairing them with faculty mentors at the medical school for hands-on lab work.