Motivated by personal loss, Nicole Valencia’s goal is to improve research in the advancements of radiation therapy and enhancing better patient outcomes that touch the lives of those affected by brain diseases that include cancer, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s.
A few years ago, Valencia’s foster sibling passed away from a brain tumor, which greatly impacted her life. During her sibling’s illness, Valencia was studying radiation therapy, but felt unsatisfied with the program. She wanted to do something that was more impactful.
I think what was most exciting about COMP is the inspiration from seeing all the cool stuff happening in Canada.
Nicole Valencia
“Instead of treating them with the technology that we currently have, I would rather be working towards advancements for better patient outcomes,” shared Valencia. “So, people like my sibling, who was only a child, wouldn’t have to deal with that.”
To help Valencia’s goal to improve medical advancements in radiation, Valencia is now working with UWinnipeg physicist Dr. Melanie Martin in UWinnipeg’s Brain Imaging and Metabolic Research Lab.
NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award
This summer Valencia is one of Dr. Martin’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) holders. Valencia will be programing different geometric models and testing these models in Monte Carlo simulations, a computational technique that uses repeated random sampling to produce a range of possible outcomes, with real MRI data to make improved inferences of axon diameters. Axon diameters are the primary transmission lines of the nervous system found in the brain.
Nicole Valencia displays two recent awards.
“This means Nicole is improving the accuracy of our models for axon diameter measurements to help us make the MRI method feasible in the clinic,” explained Dr. Martin.
Valencia presented her research, with its challenges, at the Canadian Organization for Medical Physicists (COMP) Annual Scientific Meeting earlier this month in London, Ontario.
Valencia’s academic and scholarly drive earned her an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) award, one of only two offered across the country. This allowed her to attend and present her research at COMP.
Valencia speaks science succinctly
Valencia thrived at the conference where her presentation in the Science Spoken Succinctly earned her the second-place prize and people’s choice prize. Valencia enjoyed presentations on engaging topics; networking and discussing a wide range of areas in medical physics including new technologies, treatments, and methods.
“I think what was most exciting about COMP is the inspiration from seeing all the cool stuff happening in Canada,” said Valencia.
Valencia is now working on becoming a medical physicist. She has upgraded to pursuing a Bachelor of Science, Honours in medical physics in coordination of finishing her undergraduate degree in radiation health and safety.
Her long-term goal is to complete a PhD. “My mom said, you know, we’ll have a doctor in the family, maybe not a medical doctor, but a PhD doctor, for sure,” shared Valencia.
