Maria Samaritano

Maria graduated from the University of Virginia in May 2021 with B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Engineering Business. She was introduced to organ-on-chip (OOC) engineering through her senior capstone project, where she developed a vagina-on-chip model to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of vaginal wound healing. Maria is passionate about women's health and seeks to utilize OOC technology to remedy disparities in the healthcare system. She is currently working with the OOC team at the Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering at Columbia to study sex differences in response to radiation exposure using their engineered bone marrow model. Next year, she is headed off to graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering with the hopes of uncovering sex-specific mechanisms of diseases that solely, differently, or disproportionately affect women. Maria's goal is to become not only a scientist closing the knowledge gaps in female physiology but also a women's health advocate invoking change at the national level.