Naples teen presents research findings at national cancer conference

Anabella Maria Galang rattles off complex medical terminology with ease. She’s come to the attention of scientists at Florida Gulf Coast University and top researchers at Harvard Medical School.

She is all of 16 years old and a senior this fall at The Community School of Naples. She is likely the youngest member of the American Association for Cancer Research.

She presented her research findings at the group’s annual meeting in April through a poster board display during the high school program.

She was one of 11 students presenting, and there were approximately 200 students in attendance, according to a spokeswoman for the association.

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In between school and pursuits in cancer research, Galang is launching a charitable organization called The Steminist Movement, a reference to science, technology, engineering and mathematics curriculum.

The mission is to empower Southwest Florida middle school girls’ interest in STEM-related topics. She has a website, a GoFundMe account and is preparing documents so her charity can acquire nonprofit status.

“I think students are far too often underestimated,” she said. “The ability to make a difference is up to them. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s true.”

Her days are jammed after waking at 5 a.m. with a refreshed mind for homework and her rigorous curriculum at school.

She comes from a driven family: Her father, Dr. Kenneth Galang, practices physical medicine and rehabilitation in Fort Myers, and her mother, Maria Galang, is a physical therapist. Family on her mother’s side were physicians in the Philippines.

Anabella Galang is fluent in Spanish and nearly fluent in Mandarin. She has 18 universities in mind — so far — she plans to apply to attend.

She intends to pursue medical and doctoral degrees to become a practicing physician in oncology; she will engage in cancer immunology research and perhaps be a part-time associate professor at a university.

Cancer research a first love as a young teenager 

At 14, Anabella Galang shadowed doctors as they interacted with patients. That’s where she saw how some patients were given a few months to live; others had a life expectancy of two years.

That piqued her interest in cancer immunology. Following her freshman year in high school, she took a summer class at Duke University and a class at Brown University. Students at Brown encouraged her to stick with cancer research.

Anabella Galang read hundreds of scientific papers involving cancer research. She developed an idea for a project and sent out 300 emails to scientists for feedback. 

A biology professor at FGCU, Lyndsay Rhodes, offered to mentor her. The project was tweaked to focus on a specific protein and its potential effects on certain types of breast cancer. Rhodes guided Anabella Galang through daily life as a laboratory researcher.

“It was my first experience in a living, breathing lab at FGCU,” she said. “It was incredible.”

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Even though the outcome was negative, finding no correlation between the protein and breast cancer, she accepted it. 

“I was pretty disappointed, but in a way it was really interesting because all scientists have gone through this sort of failure,” she said.

Rhodes said Anabella Galang’s project was fantastic. They will work together again.

“She’s clearly very bright, very driven and very determined,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes fully expects Anabella Galang to pursue a career in cancer research.

“If that’s what she wants, then that’s what she will do,” Rhodes said.

Anabella Galang took the results of her research project to the Collier Regional Science and Engineering Fair and won. She took it to the Florida State Science and Engineering Fair, and won fifth place in the health and biomedical sciences division.

“I was really impressed with all the students there,” she said. “It was an amazing experience.”

She wrote the American Association for Cancer Research and was granted membership. She has attended two of the organization’s annual meetings, the most recent one in April where she displayed a poster presentation of her research. Scientists stopped by and engaged with her.

“A lot of them offered suggestions of different iterations of my project that I could test,” she said. “All of that was very inspiring. They seemed genuinely interested in me developing my ideas and continuing my cancer research. They were all very receptive of the fact that even though I am this age, I am very interested in cancer immunology.”

Her mother attended both conferences with her and recalled that about 40 people altogether stopped by her poster presentation. 

In 2017, Anabella Galang took two pre-college summer classes at Harvard from Dr. Maurizio Fazio, who wrote a letter of recommendation for her.

“She is an extremely enthusiastic and dedicated student with a remarkable passion for biomedical sciences,” Fazio said. “She carefully listened to the feedback from the previous course and, rather than being discouraged from it, she stood up to the challenge and used the criticism for her own improvement.”

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Help middle school students find interest in science 

Anabella Galang believes many middle school students are not exposedto enough science, technology engineering and mathematics classes.

With The Steminist Movement, she wants middle school girls to explore these subject areas through free educational sessions.

“I think there are probably a lot of children in Southwest Florida who have an unkindled passion for STEM subjects,” she said.

She’s planning to hold monthly interactive workshops, one each in Lee and Collier counties, starting in the fall.

“I will be hosting the inaugural workshop in August,” Anabella Galang said. The first will be Aug. 18 at Naples Regional Public Library, 650 Central Ave., followed by one Aug. 25 in Lee, with a location to be determined.

Like her mentors, Anabella Galang wants young students to realize their ideas are important and can have an impact in the world.

The website for The Steminist Movement is www.steministmovement.org. Inquiries should be directed at anabella_maria_galang@steministmovement.org. She has set up a GoFundMe account for The Steminist Movement at  www.gofundme.com/the-steminist-movement.