CHASING A CURE: Princeton University sophomore Beianka Tomlinson, fourth from left, is one of 12 students across the nation to be awarded a grant from Northwestern Mutual for childhood cancer research.

By Anne Levin

Growing up in Jamaica, Beianka Tomlinson realized early on that access to quality health care was an issue — especially for children. She knew, early on, that she wanted to help.

“I have always wanted to be a physician, and I believe that it is the path God has set for my life because it is a passion that I’ve had since I could speak,” she said in an email this week. “It sounds very cliché, but there is no other way to explain it.”

As one of 12 college students across the nation to be awarded a grant to do research into childhood cancer, the Princeton University sophomore has taken a step closer to her goal. Last month, Northwestern Mutual donated $60,000 among the 12 recipients, awarded through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation Pediatric Oncology Student Training (POST) Program.

Through the program, Tomlinson has worked at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and studied the disparities of children who have relapsed acute myeloid leukemia. Specifically, they are learning how patient outcomes differ by factors such as race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.

There is only one children’s hospital in Jamaica, a country with a population of nearly three million. Tomlinson has volunteered at fundraising events to increase the number of intensive care unit beds and medical equipment at the hospital.

While becoming a physician continues to be Tomlinson’s goal, research has become an additional focus. “Research is where long-lasting changes are made and where medical advancements emerge, leading to generations of people, like those from marginalized groups, having better health care experiences in the future,” she said. “For those reasons, I want to be just as involved in being a practicing physician as I am participating in research.”

The POST program was created by Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation in 2011. Student recipients like Tomlinson get the chance to experience research firsthand by working directly with principal investigators to explore research in a field of their interest.

“The Northwestern Mutual Foundation is dedicated to finding better treatments and cures for childhood cancer and supporting children and families affected by the disease,” reads a press release from the company. “Since 2012, the organization has supported the fight against childhood cancer through its Childhood Cancer Program by donating more than $35 million to support families and survivors, and has funded over 455,000 hours of research with partners like Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and other nonprofit organizations across the United States.”

Tomlinson is especially fascinated by the socioeconomic aspects of her research.

“Like the marginalized in Jamaica, those belonging to minority groups here in the United States face their own set of issues,” she said. “People of color are more likely to die from chronic illness than their white counterparts, and the cause isn’t entirely understood. What is compelling, and simultaneously frustrating, is just how large this disparity is for children of color, which has pushed me to want to learn more about factors that affect patient outcomes. Is a higher mortality rate among this group influenced by genetics or socioeconomic pressures brought on by race? To what extent does each factor play a role and how do they combine to determine an outcome for a child? This is something I’d like to investigate further as a researcher.”

Tomlinson realizes that she still has a lot to learn before deciding on her specific research goals. “What I know, with absolute certainty,” she said, “is that I will dedicate my time before medical school and eventually as a physician to understanding diseases, like leukemia, that seem to disproportionately affect children of color from low-income families the most.”