Yoojin Jo, COL ’27, Fullerton, CA
This summer, I had the opportunity to work at the Center for Cytokine Storm Treatment & Laboratory (CSTL), where my days moved between inputting lab values, creating figures with R and Excel, and receiving lectures from my mentors about Castleman disease and its impact on the immune system. I was struck by the intense collaboration that occurs not only between the translational and clinical teams within our lab, but also between researchers, patients, and the small community of physicians worldwide who make the effort to come together to investigate and study this rare disease.
Castleman disease (CD), the focus of our lab, can be as confusing to describe as it is to diagnose. At its simplest, it occurs when the immune system goes into overdrive without a clear trigger, flooding the body with inflammatory molecules and, in its more severe forms, causing multiple organs to fail. What stood out most to me, however, was not the complexity of subtypes—from unicentric CD, which can usually be surgically treated, to various forms of multicentric CD with more uncertain causes and often severe symptoms, and even new categories like oligocentric CD—but the patients I met who live with this uncertainty every day.
One of the most meaningful moments of the summer was the Patient and Loved One summit, where CD patients and loved ones traveled from across the country to share their stories, ask questions, and find comfort in being together. As I helped out, I realized that the data I was entering into the ACCELERATE registry was not abstract or just numbers—it represented real lives. Watching physicians discuss cases one by one, in meticulous detail, showed me how each individual lab value or image can eventually build into patterns that inform decisions and improve care. Shadowing on inpatient and outpatient services gave me yet another direct perspective into how patients are affected. I observed experts on Castleman’s Disease debating how a patient’s labs, pathology, and history made them a potential CD case–or not. I was struck by how difficult these judgments can be when no two patients look the same, and how much collaboration across specialties is required to move forward.
What I carried from this summer goes beyond technical skills. I learned what it means to be part of a team where every role—from entering data to designing clinical trials—fits into a larger puzzle. I saw how rare disease research demands patience, creativity, and a willingness to listen deeply to patients themselves. As I continue contributing to multiple ongoing projects in the lab, I’m excited to keep building on what I’ve learned, both in coding and in bridging science back to the people it serves. Most of all, I leave this summer with a sense of humility: that medicine often begins not with certainty, but with communities willing to adapt, collaborate, and confront the unknown together.
This is part of a series of posts by recipients of the 2025 Career Services Summer Funding Grant. We’ve asked funding recipients to reflect on their summer experiences and talk about the industries in which they spent their summer. You can read the entire series here
