Amber Herrod

Tell me a little about yourself. Where are you from, what degree(s) do you have? What are your interests?

My name is Amber Herrod, and I am a Native American enrolled under the Navajo Nation. I am originally from Shiprock, New Mexico, a small community on the Navajo reservation, until my family moved to Farmington, New Mexico, for better opportunities. The degrees that I have are a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a concentration in cell/molecular also with a pre-health certificate from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. My interests are anything with science, but I always wanted to do cancer biology because of the illegal uranium dumping and mines we have on the reservation and the high rates of cancer my community have with little to no healthcare access. So, I wanted to help my community through research!

Why did you choose the U for graduate school?

The reason why I chose the U for graduate school is my summer internship with the Native American Research Internship (NARI). The NARI program helped me decide what I wanted to do in the future. I thought of being an MD/PhD, but research captivated my heart and I wanted to pursue a PhD. I chose the U because of their excellent faculty and research in many departments, such as biochemistry, oncological sciences, and the genomics department, during my time as a participant in the NARI program. Also, Salt Lake City is a really cool city to explore and do activities in!

Tell me about your lab. What do you study?

In overview, we study stem cells, development, and cancer at the single-cell and system levels, utilizing various tools. Specifically, what I am currently working on is a signaling protein called Cripto and its response to promote cellular adaptation under stress in vitro and in vivo.

Why did you choose to join your lab?

The reason why I chose the Spike Lab is the research they are doing. Another reason was how motivated my PI is and how he got me excited to do research that they were doing!

What do you like most about living in Salt Lake City?

What I like most about living in Salt Lake City is the number of activities you get to do here. I like to attend events at Snowbird, and attend my local Native community activities such as pow-wows.

What do like the least?

What I do like the least is the parking situation here at the U. But you get a parking spot if you park before 9AM!

What do you like most about being a graduate student?

What I love the most about being a graduate student is the work-life balance that you get to have here at the U. Hearing that most places don’t have a work-life balance makes me feel really grateful to be a graduate student attending the U because I get to do research but still also have time to do activities I wanted to do.

What types of things do you do outside of class and lab?

The type of things I do outside of class and lab is that I read papers to better understand my field and gaps in knowledge in the field, study for classes, and I do art whenever I need a break!

What does a typical weekday look like for you?

A typical weekday for me looks like is that I do experiments on the projects that I work on, attend lab meetings/supergroup meetings, seminars, and research in progress meetings to see what other people in the department are doing.

What does a typical weekend look like for you?

My typical weekend depends if I have experiments planned on that weekend. But most times, I love going to the farmers market, making art, and hanging out with friends such as going to the lake to paddleboard, rock climbing, and snowboarding!

What advice would you give to someone applying and interviewing for graduate school?

The advice that I would give to someone applying and interviewing for graduate school is to be yourself and just apply! I was not too sure about applying at first because I thought I needed to have a master’s first to apply, but that was later on debunked when I talked to a PI at the U. Being yourself is gold to talking to faculty and you figure it out really quickly if you if you want to go to school there!