Hello, TRIP! By Isabel Kim

Hi! I’m Isabel Kim, a current senior at Wissahickon High School, who’s very excited to be a part of TRIP’24@WTHS this year! 

The most important thing to know about me is that I have a fascination with the brain. More than anything, I want to understand how millions of infinitely small molecular interactions create something as complex as human consciousness. Ultimately, I am driven to explore the fascinating world of neuropharmacology. In the past, I’ve undertaken projects focusing on ketamine’s function as an antidepressant. It’s groundbreaking treatments for diseases like depression and PTSD that fuel my excitement for research and lead me to ultimately hope to pursue drug research and development. I applied to TRIP with the primary objective of gaining a better grasp of designing my own experiments. Until now, I have done a lot of work behind a computer screen, but not much with my own hands.

In my free time, I love to play the piano (my favorite composers are Schubert and Liszt :)), cook and bake. Although I still somehow suck at baking after around 10 or so years. I also love to garden, last year I spent way too much of my paycheck on new peony tubers. Sure, my wallet totally hated me, but by June it was so nice to see tiny puffs of pink lining my doorstep. If I’m not at school or work, you can most likely find me at home doing my best to make my surroundings peaceful and productive. Even though I can be quite clumsy at times, overall, I hope to bring the same sense of calm to the lab.