Dennis Zhang graduated from Columbia College in 2024 as a biology major and early inductee of Phi Beta Kappa, who pursued extensive scholarship and service centered around genetics and rare diseases.
As an interdisciplinary researcher, he developed novel genetic technologies at the Sternberg lab in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics while contemplating related bioethical issues at the Columbia Division of Ethics. His work culminated in numerous patent applications and publications in leading journals like Nature and Science.
To contextualize and inspire his work, he supported rare genetic disease patients throughout college. As the president of a mentorship program for teens with sickle cell anemia, he worked with passionate peers to build two sickle cell advocacy comic books that have been shared with over 10 hospitals. As a hospice volunteer for terminally ill Huntington's disease patients, he revived the At Your Service volunteering program and documented patient life stories in physical books left by their bedsides.
Since graduating, Dennis conducted gene editing research at the University of Copenhagen as a US-Denmark Fulbright scholar and is pursuing an MD-PhD at Stanford as a physician-scientist-in-training. In his free time, he is a kombucha aficionado, plays guitar, and is likely marathon training—clocking miles by any means necessary—as a member of the NORD Running for Rare team.